


Conjunx Endura

by TheOnlyTarkles



Category: The Transformers (Cartoon Generation One)
Genre: Again nothing descriptive, Brief cameos from the other Autobots, Confessions, Cybertronian cursing, Developing Relationship, Doesn’t know how to comfort for beans, Exposition through Technobots, Fluff, Fluff awaits, Galvatron secretly likes animal cuddles, Galvatron's confused, Getting to Know Each Other, Gotta set some stuff up for the future, Grampa Kup and Dadimus are only trying to look out for Roddy, Have some fluff to ease the nonfluff, He has no shame, He would be crushed, He's gotta be the jokester of the two of them, Healing Watermelon Water, Hot Rod is best girl, Hot Rod is younger than Galvatron, Hot Rod isn't a super broody boy, Hot Rod knows how to do repairs, Hot Rod should not carry Galvatron, Hot Rod’s brash is showing, Hurt Bots, It makes him angry, It's all coming together, Keeping this clean, Kisses, Late Night Talk, M/M, Magnus is an awkward boy, Minor Hot Rod brooding, Nothing super descriptive, Odd-looking battle animals, Optimus/Elita - Freeform, Slow Burn, There will be implied relations later, Time to get a move on, Verbal teasing, Why is it Gold Bug?, Why not just stick with Bumblebee?, Will Add More Later, Working out feelings, back home, from enemies to friends to lovers, general violence, just a bit though, paralyzed planet, pre-war talk, world building
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:00:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 47,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21664834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOnlyTarkles/pseuds/TheOnlyTarkles
Summary: The Autobots and Decepticons meet for another battle, and Galvatron and Hot Rod wind up going on a little "vacation".
Relationships: Galvatron/Hot Rod
Comments: 66
Kudos: 58





	1. Another Day... Except Not

The Autobots and the Decepticons were in the middle of a skirmish on a planetoid not far from Cybertron. It started out like any other day. Galvatron launched an attack and the Autobots went out to meet them, led by their ever-so-beloved leader Optimus Prime. Much as Galvatron hated Optimus, a small part of him was glad that he was brought back. Rodimus Prime, now Hot Rod, was insufferable to deal with. Boring. Galvatron had _no_ respect for the bot whatsoever. Rodimus lacked confidence in himself as a leader, and while he and his Autobots accomplished many great things while Optimus was offline, it still didn't make much of a difference in Galvatron's opinion.

So there they were, firing blasters, exchanging blows. A real metallic clash of the titans. If Galvatron hadn't been in the process of firing at Optimus and a few other Autobots, he would have stopped to watch the ensuing chaos with glee. So much destruction. Such a shame nobody else appreciated the art. It always left Galvatron disgruntled that his Decepticons didn't share his views. And while Cyclonus understood more than the others, Galvatron had never let go of the time his prophetbot and most loyal follower betrayed his trust to "cure" his processor.

Galvatron was suddenly snapped out of his thought processes when his optics caught a flash of red and orange just off to the side. Oh great. Hot Rod was brought along. The Decepticon leader paused and took shelter so he could watch the young Autobot closely. Just looking at the smug look on that punk's faceplate riled him up. And what's more, he was _actually_ getting the upper hand of several of his Decepticons. Galvatron made a mental note to shoot some combat sense into those dim-sparks later.

"Give it up, Galvatron!" called out Optimus Prime. "Your army is diminishing!"

Enraged by the clearly false assumption, Galvatron turned to his army to bark out an order to stay on the offensive... only to see that some of his Decepticons had taken flight and run away! Those cowards! "Nobody is giving up yet, Prime!" Galvatron bellowed, pulling out a device he stole from the Quintessons just before the floating, retro-rat creators all went into hiding. "With this device, I will take out all the Autobots on this floating rock!" Truthfully, he had no idea what the Quintessons used it for, but the thing looked menacing. So who was he to pass up an opportunity? At the very least it made the Autobots pause and tense up. Exactly the sort of reaction Galvatron was looking for. What he was _not_ looking for, however, was a certain red and orange bootleg to launch himself at him and wrestle for the device.

From somewhere off to the side he could hear Kup shout, "Hot Rod, are you half-clocked?! Get away from him!"

"Don't be a hero and get yourself killed!" Gold Bug chimed in. Gold Bug...

Galvatron had to stop himself from internally ranting about the stupid name the previously-known-as Bumblebee gave himself. Instead he directed his attention and might to keeping the device away from Hot Rod. "You should listen to what your comrades tell you," he hissed to the annoyance fighting him for control.

Hot Rod persisted. "You're not going to threaten my friends!" He made to punch Galvatron in the faceplate, only for the Decepticon leader to move the device in the way to block it, causing the machine to fritz. Hot Rod gasped and took a small step back.

"See what you've done?!" Galvatron screeched as they were surrounded with a flash of light.

When the light cleared up, a new terrain took the place of the planetoid they were on. The spot they were in was nearly barren save for the dead sticks protruding from the ground. The Decepticon assumed those were the remains of what were supposed to be trees or bushes. On the horizon sat the beginning of a forest. It was all wrong, though. Galvatron couldn't quite place what it was, but he was fairly certain everything being various shades of grey and black wasn't a good sign. There was no color or light save for the two of them. Speaking of the two of them, there were no signs of any other Autobots or Decepticons other than himself and Hot Rod.

Galvatron rounded on the young bot and chucked the broken device at him, smashing it against his chestplate before the Decepticon lunged forward and knocked the smaller bot to the ground. He proceeded to wrap his servos around the Autobot's throat. "This is all _your_ fault, Rodimus!!" Galvatron raged.

"My fault?!" Hot Rod choked out, gripping Galvatron's servos and trying to peel them away from his neck. "If you hadn't pulled out that weird machine, we would still be back on that planetoid with the others!" He reeled back a leg with just enough room to build up the force he needed to kick the crazed Decepticon leader off of him, then released it.

Galvatron grunted as he was kicked and landed on his back a few feet away from Hot Rod. He then hurriedly got back up and glared down at the Autobot as Hot Rod got to his peds as well. If there was one thing he wasn't going to tolerate while he was stuck there, it was that infuriating dustkicker. "If I'm to be stuck here, it certainly won't be with your leaking aft port!" The leader transformed into his cannon form and aimed the barrel at Hot Rod. "This is where you will meet your end, Autobot!" Yes, finally! He can be rid of this nuisance once and for all!

Hot Rod extended his arms swiftly and waved them in a desperate attempt to signal for Galvatron to hold his fire. "W-Wait, wait! Hang on! How are you going to find a way back without any helpers?"

Galvatron scoffed. "You mock my intelligence, Rodimus? I am more resourceful than you give me credit for."

"It's Hot Rod," the Autobot corrected, only to take a small step back as Galvatron charged a blast. "I can help you! Look, we both want to get back home, right? You hate me and I hate you, but doesn't it make sense to team up and look for a way back home? There's this old earth saying. 'You scratch my back, I scratch yours.' Let's just call a truce and help each other for now."

Galvatron paused and had to think about the proposition. On the one hand, he _really_ hated Hot Rod and just wanted to do away with him as quickly as possible. One less Autobot to worry about on the battlefield. On the other hand, it would be useful to have a grunt who could go into dangerous situations for him should he ever need a shield. And the Autobot would serve as a great punching bag. Reluctantly, Galvatron transformed back into robot mode and fixed Hot Rod with a grumpy expression. "Very well. You may stay. But you must do _exactly_ as I tell you and if you so much as 'scratch my back', I guarantee I will _destroy_ yours!"

"Okay! Okay," the young bot soothed, relaxing and moving his gaze to sweep their surroundings. "Have you ever seen this planet before?"

Galvatron folded his arms and redirected his gaze as well. "No, I cannot say I have."

"I think our first order of business would be to find a source of ener-- Ow!" Hot Rod staggered sideways and clutched his cheek, right where Galvatron punched it. "What the slag was that for?!"

"I am the leader here, not you! Thus, I give the commands!" Honestly, of all the nerve this mudslogger had! No longer had the Autobot matrix yet still tried to make commands! He would need to be whipped into place!

The Autobot rolled his optics. "It was a _suggestion_ , Galvatron."

"Then phrase it properly!" The Decepticon insisted.

A sigh escaped the young bot's mouth. "Fine." He cleared his throat then said in what Galvatron knew was a mocking tone, "Lord Galvatron, do you think it would be best to go search for a source of energy so as to keep us fueled during our stay?"

The Decepticon leader narrowed his optics at the youth for the attitude. More whipping than he initially thought. "Do not get cute with me. Head for the forest. We will begin our search there."

"You think I'm cute?" Hot Rod teased. Upon seeing Galvatron growl and point his cannon at him warningly, Hot Rod snickered. "Alright, alright, I'm going. Try to keep up, now." And with that, the red and orange bot transformed into his vehicle mode and took off for the forest, leaving Galvatron to follow close behind.


	2. Hop To It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there's quite a bit of bickering between the two bots.

The closer they got to the forest, the clearer it was that something was seriously wrong with the planet. Once deep inside, Hot Rod transformed into robot mode and surveyed the area. "Galvatron, my processor is screaming that something is off about this planet. It looks like it's supposed to have the same structure as Earth and yet... none of these plants are moving. Where's the inhabitants? Where's the color?"

"What does is matter?!" the crabby Decepticon snapped.

"Don't you think whatever happened to this planet could happen to us?" the young bot pressed.

Galvatron proceeded to counter with, "All that we've seen is that the nature is immobile! We don't know that the inhabitants are frozen as well! Or that this was even caused by something! It could just be its natural state! Don't speculate and just find a power source!"

Hot Rod could feel his body heat up a few degrees with irritation. For Alpha Trion's sake, didn't the crazy old Decepticon realize just how much of a threat this could pose to them? Whatever. If it was proof the fool needed, then the next point they came across such Hot Rod would show him. _Then_ Galvatron would _have_ to believe him.

The two of them made their way deeper into the forest with no signs of any life. And worse, still no movement. They came across waterfalls that appeared to be frozen in time. Galvatron had paused to stare thoughtfully at them when Hot Rod pointed them out. "That brings back memories," he had mused.

"What sort?" Hot Rod couldn't help the curiosity. As far as he knew, Galvatron had never dealt with time-frozen waterfalls before.

Galvatron must have been in a decent mood, because he answered, "Back when I was Megatron. When the Decepticons and the Autobots were fighting for control over the Earth's energy reserves. One of your crazy Autobot technicians made quite the useful device that stopped time for whatever it was used on. It stopped a river and made it possible for us to battle over the device on. It even froze up the inventor himself."

The young Autobot raised a brow. This was news to him. Then again, not many of the original crew that got stuck on Earth back then shared their stories. Everyone was too busy. Or separated, as the case may be. Hot Rod made it a point to take the time to ask one of them about the adventures and exploits they had when he got back. "Is it still around? Do you think it did all this?" he asked.

The Decepticon leader continued to stare thoughtfully at the immobile water. "No, the Autobots and their human pets destroyed it the first chance they got just to keep it out of my grasp. It may be possible someone built something like it, though I find it highly unlikely."

"Think we should keep an optic on the look out anyway?" When the red and orange bot didn't receive a response, he leaned over to try and get Galvatron to focus on him. "Galvatron?"

The motion worked. Galvatron snapped right out of his thoughts and scowled at the Autobot. "Is that the objective I gave you?"

"Well, no, but--"

"Then focus on nothing but what I ordered you to do!" the crabby bot snarled.

Hot Rod wasn't going to stand for this. "You're going to get us killed if we continue like this! We don't have enough information about the place to figure out whether it's safe or not!"

Galvatron didn't seem to be having any of it either. "And you think not doing anything will get us that information, you wingnut?!" he countered. Much as Hot Rod hated to admit it, he sort of had a point. Dangerous to continue, stupid to not, they really didn't have much choice in the matter. The young bot supposed this was why Galvatron was the one who led the Decepticons. The others were all talk and little bite. Of course, that's not to say they weren't a threat. They were strong under Galvatron's direction and rule. That's part of what made him such a formidable enemy.

Hot Rod had to pause and take a breath(?). "No. You're right," he reluctantly admitted aloud.

"Of course I am!" Galvatron huffed. "Now, how much energon do you have remaining?"

"About a few days' worth," the Autobot replied.

Galvatron squinted with minor confusion. "How long?"

Upon being asked again, it clicked that Galvatron didn't understand Earth terms or analogies very well. Hot Rod worked on doing the math and figuring out the terms that the Decepticon leader would understand. "Uh, about three solar-cycles."

The information received a curt but approving nod. "Good. Proceed onward."

As they continued their journey, Hot Rod's thoughts became stuck on the look Galvatron donned when he was recounting the event from the old days. It was a look he'd never seen on the tyrannical bot before. It was almost... Hot Rod hurriedly stopped that train of thought in its tracks and backpedalled. Why would the Decepticon be so fond of those days? Or was he mistaking "fondness" for another emotion? It made the Autobot wonder if he could get Galvatron to do it again.

The rest of the day was rather dull to say the least. Hot Rod assumed a full day had passed. As far as he could see, there was no star to be declared a sun that could tell them as much. The red and orange Autobot was feeling antsy and ever-so-slightly bored after traveling across such dull terrain for what felt like an eternity, and he and Galvatron were still going. Himself in car mode with Galvatron taking up the rear from in the air in robot mode. Acting on an impulse and boredom, he sped up a tad and kept a rearview mirror on Galvatron. He noted with satisfaction that the Decepticon sped up a bit as well to keep pace. With this newfound knowledge, the younger pushed forward with a burst of speed.

Galvatron glared at him and tried to catch up. "Running away from me, Rodimus?! So like you to pull something so cowardly!"

While a small portion of Hot Rod felt the sting of the insult, he merely chuckled the negativity away. "Not running," he replied. "Just testing to see how fast you can go."

"What's it to you how fast I can go?!" the Decepticon demanded.

"You want my respect and unquestioning obedience for now? Keep up with me in a race or beat me! Bet you can't, No-Wheels!" Hot Rod challenged just before he took off at full speed.

"Wh--?! Get back here, mudslogger!! I'll show _you_ speed!!" And with that, Galvatron shot after him through the air.

Hot Rod had to admit, the bot was pretty darn speedy. Not as fast as himself, but there were a few times the Decepticon nearly caught up. Hot Rod decided after a couple minutes that he wanted to try a few fancy maneuvers, and so proceeded to do all sorts of show-off tricks while Galvatron followed intensely behind him. This, however, he soon came to regret. They had come up alongside a ravine and while the young bot was showing off, he lost control of himself briefly. He yelped as he floored his brakes in a desperate attempt to keep himself on land, but the brakes only made the skid worse. Hot Rod found himself screaming as he slid off the cliff and into the ravine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I've got more chapters done and will post mmmmaybe once a week or so? Depends on what I have done and how life treats me. I know this one is shorter than the last. I pretty much end the chapter when I want to shift perspectives, with the exception of one chapter, but that was to make it so it wasn't REALLY short.


	3. Into the Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Galvatron sneakily does some good.

Galvatron had narrowed his optics when Hot Rod had begun to show off his stuff. The insufferable whelp was now rubbing in just how superior he felt his swiftness was! If Galvatron didn't need him around as a living shield, he had half a processor to shoot him for the sheer nerve he had for that behavior. And then Galvatron noticed that the youth had begun to lose control. This brought a smirk to the leader's faceplate. The smirk then turned to sheer delight when he saw the Autobot go careening into the ravine beside them. Finally, he wouldn't have to put up with the guff that dim-spark gave him!

...But then his delight melted when he remembered that his _shield_ was plummeting to his doom. Galvatron growled at the action he knew he had to perform to keep the shield around and reluctantly dived after Hot Rod. It wasn't until they were two-thirds of the way down that Galvatron reached Hot Rod and wrapped his servos around him to begin slowing their descent.

It seemed the Decepticon's action surprised the Autobot. "Galvatron?" he said with a dumbfounded tone.

The leader didn't respond and simply concentrated on making sure they didn't crash into the ground. Once they had safely landed, Galvatron set down the Autobot who was still in car mode.

Hot Rod didn't miss a beat and transformed back into robot mode. The expression on his face was one of pure astonishment. "Galvatron, I... I can't believe--" He was forced to cut off when Galvatron hoisted the young bot above his head. "Galvatron?! What the spark--?!" The Autobot yelped as the Decepticon proceeded to hurl him into one of the cliff walls of the ravine.

"Half-clocked bootleg!!" Galvatron raged. "Your antics have cost us time and valuable energon!! How are we supposed to get ourselves off this forsaken planet when you are wasting time and trying to put yourself out of commission?!"

The Autobot was starting to don what Galvatron could only relate the expression to as one of Starscream's fearful looks. What any human would equate it to was the look of a kicked puppy. Hurt and shocked. The youth opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to figure out what to say in response.

The Decepticon leader scoffed and rolled his optics. "You're lucky I want a form of protection over an offline Autobot!" he snapped as he turned his attention to their new surroundings. The ravine was fairly dark and made sight with the naked eye difficult. It's a good thing Galvatron and Hot Rod were robots and had much better optical power than the average human. "Get up. There's a cave just over there. We will dive in and see what it has to offer."

To Galvatron's mild surprise, Hot Rod did as he was told without a word and followed the leader. He had expected the bot to make a few wisecracks and further infuriate him, but this new behavior was much preferred. The Decepticon made a mental note that when the Autobot promised something, he actually performed what he said he would. Galvatron would have to make Hot Rod make promises more often.

They made their way to the cave and inside in utter silence, alert and wary of their surroundings. Faint echoes of growling and snarls reached their audio receptors not far in. The deeper they went, the closer the growls and snarling got and the cavern narrowed. It was soon that they were presented with multiple pathways. Hot Rod simply kept close to Galvatron and let the _experienced_ leader do the leading and picking of paths. At one point a pair of glowing eyes could be seen peering out at them further ahead, the set belonging to what appeared to be a furry creature with six legs and two lengthy tails. It growled at them and arched its back, then took off further into the cave system.

Hot Rod broke his silence. "A cat?"

Galvatron furrowed his optical ridges. "What?"

"Sorry, it just looked like a human pet, but... bigger and with more parts to it," Hot Rod clarified. "It probably knows it wouldn't stand a chance against us, so ran off."

Galvatron smirked. "If all the creatures here are fleshy and primitive, then we shouldn't have to worry too much about them. However... seeing as humans can do much despite being weak, we'll have to keep an optic on these creatures, anyway."

"Understood," was the last thing Hot Rod said before resuming his silence.

The cavern seemed to go on for ages, odd-looking freaks of nature scattered hither and thither that Galvatron assumed Hot Rod would compare to Earth's creatures. If he were talking, that is. At first the Decepticon thought the silence from the Autobot was a welcome change, but now that all that could be heard was the creatures, their metallic movements, and the increasing number of bones crunching beneath their peds? It was starting to get a little irritating.

"For Alpha Trion's sake, you said you would follow unquestioningly, Rodimus! That didn't mean you had to be silent throughout this whole thing!" Galvatron growled.

Hot Rod raised an optical ridge at the Decepticon. "I thought that's what you wanted, Gal. Are you saying you miss my voice?"

"Shut up! But also don't shut up! Just say things, blast it! And don't call me 'Gal'!"

"If you don't want me calling you that, don't call me Rodimus," the younger replied cooly. "It's Hot Rod, now. I gave up the matrix of leadership when Optimus was brought back to life." Hot Rod gained an expression that hinted at bitterness. "There's no way I could follow in his footsteps."

To this, Galvatron could whole-sparkedly agree. "Nobody can. Optimus Prime is his own bot. As is everyone else. Nobody can compare."

The Autobot blinked and gave the Decepticon a thoughtful stare. He was quiet again for a few moments as they entered a clearing in the cave system. A large room with two routes into it and a large pool of unmoving water in the middle. Hot Rod chose to speak up again in this room. Galvatron was glad he did, because otherwise he was going to shout again. "Hey, can we take a break here? Just for a few minu-- erm... kilicks?"

The Decepticon leader narrowed his optics as he thought the request out. On one servo it had been a solar-cycle and a half--or so he assumed--and they had yet to make any progress finding a source of energy. On the other servo... Well, there was no other servo that Galvatron particularly cared about. Energy was the most important thing in that moment. And yet a small portion of him took in the look on Hot Rod's faceplate and won him over. Galvatron sighed and folded his arms. "Fine," he consented. "I suppose we could take this time to conserve some energon."

Having received permission, Hot Rod took a seat against a wall and stared into the seemingly dead water. It was another few moments before he spoke up once again. "It's said the matrix of leadership chooses its next wielder. Who is worthy to become a Prime. ...It _had_ to have made a mistake. I mean, even you would agree with me that Ultra Magnus would have made a _much_ better leader than I was."

Galvatron thought about this for a micro-kilick. "Ultra Magnus is a great soldier, but I wouldn't count on the leader part. Being an uptight protocol follower doesn't always make a good leader," he answered and continued with, "There are several things Ultra Magnus and Optimus Prime have that you don't. I won't go through the _entire_ list, but what it boils down to is they have experience. You're too new to this war and don't have the perspective a battle-hardened soldier does."

"Frankly speaking," the younger bot stated quietly, "I don't think I should have to get used to the idea of being a soldier. I don't _want_ to be like Optimus and Magnus and Kup. And yet here we are, in this stupid war, pitted against each other because of what?"

Galvatron scowled at him. "Cybertron rightfully belongs to the Decepticons and we will not rest until it's under our total rule!"

"It rightfully belongs to all of us!" Hot Rod snapped back at him. "'There will be no peace until all are one!' That darn saying has been passed down from Autobot-to-Autobot for who- _knows_ -how-long! You know what it says is true! Why are you so _insistent_ that the universe is yours to rule?!"

How dare this whelp criticize him?! Galvatron scowled at him and opened his mouth to shout an answer... only to pause as he drew up a blank. Why _was_ he so bent on universal domination? Of course he was an amazing leader and had every right to, but there was more to it, wasn't there? There had to have been. Megatron certainly knew there was, but it's been so long that Galvatron couldn't pull the data from his hard drive. Or... Unicron had played a part in erasing a portion of his hard drive without him realizing? The bot suddenly snapped out of his thoughts to find Hot Rod staring at him warily, expecting to be yelled at. Galvatron closed his mouth and huffed irritably. "It's none of your business, Rodimus."

Hot Rod sighed and turned his gaze back to the ground. "Well... for what it's worth, even if you had an ulterior motive for it... I'm glad you saved my life, Gal. Thank you."

"I am your enemy and still you would thank me for keeping you around to be used as cannon fodder?" The mere notion amused Galvatron and brought a smirk to his faceplate. "You Autobots have such strong honor. That is one thing you share with Ultra Magnus and Optimus Prime."

The bot looked up at him again, the bitterness in his expression replaced with borderline fascination. "I do? Huh."

"Now," Galvatron started briskly, "You've had more than enough time to recuperate. It feels like this cavern's end isn't too far off. We're moving on. Get up."

And with that, Hot Rod got up with a chuckle. "Now look who's in a big ol' hurry," he teased. "Don't waste your energon, Gal."

Galvatron growled. "Go back to shutting up and quit calling me 'Gal'!"

"Too late, Gally. You told me you missed the sound of my voice," the Autobot persisted with a broad grin.

The Decepticon shouted and stomped his ped on the ground angrily a few times before backhanding Hot Rod's arm and storming off.

The young bot recovered from the abuse with a snicker and followed after him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm too excited to share this to hold onto it for another week, so have another chapter. Thanks for reading and thank you for the support so far! I'm having way too much fun writing this. It's been years since I've written a project like this.


	4. Watermelon Oasis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which they run into a bit of trouble.

It had to have been nearing the end of the second day, Hot Rod had concluded. It felt like a lot of time had passed since their unwilling arrival to this place. He knew he was supposed to be keeping an optic on their surroundings, but he couldn't help letting his mind wander. He really hoped his friends would arrive soon to get him away from Galvatron and this increasingly nightmarish planet. What he wouldn't have given for a stasis-nap at the very least. Then he wouldn't have had to use his processor for a time.

Still, he'd be lying if he said it was completely and utterly horrible. Galvatron hadn't destroyed him and was tolerating their truce. Hot Rod had been thrown for a loop when it looked like Galvatron was going to explode with fury earlier. He had totally expected the unhinged bot to do so and yet he didn't. And that not-so-far-off time in the ravine when Galvatron had taken the time to save his life, or at the very least prevent him from getting seriously decommissioned. He never knew the tyrant had it in him to save someone. Even for his own Decepticons. It was confusing and Hot Rod wasn't sure what to make of it.

Hot Rod was brought back to the present when he bumped into Galvatron, who had stopped in front of him, tense and pointing his cannon down the cavern hall ahead of them. "What's wrong?"

"Do you not hear them? _See_ them?" Galvatron hissed back at him. "They have us surrounded!"

Now that Galvatron had pointed it out, Hot Rod could make out a ton of rumbling and hissing coming from in front of and _behind_ them. Hot Rod turned around and pulled out his blaster, catching sight of a cluster of creatures down the path they just came from. Some were in the air, others were lined up behind each other, all of them ready to attack. "Are you taking the ones in front?"

"Not like we have much choice, now _do_ we, Autobot? I can't very well squeeze by you without trampling you. Ooh, now there's a thought..."

Hot Rod didn't like the direction that was going. "Yeah, good point. I'll stick with the ones in back," he decided, and with that Galvatron fired and the mostly quiet cavern hall erupted into action and a cacophony of noise.

The creatures in front charged, baring their fangs, claws, and any other manner of sharp edge they had on their bodies. The airborne creatures proceeded to dive at them, having just as many sharp edges as the creatures on the ground. The ones in the back seemed to have some long ranged attacks to them because it wasn't long before there were explosions occurring within the cavern. If Hot Rod had to be honest, he would very reluctantly have admitted that these feral beings scared him just a tad. ...Okay, more than a tad. They were actually doing a good chunk of damage to the transformers caught between them and based on their formations, they had a _ton_ of battle experience as a unit. Which gave them _quite_ the upper hand.

Meanwhile Galvatron and himself were putting up as much of a fight as they could. They were able to bring down the flying animals and send them limping away. They had also beaten back a couple of the ground warriors, but they would have had an easier time with them if those darn ranged attackers weren't pushing their assault relentlessly. The transformers' plating was taking a heavy beating as a result and their attacks were difficult to carry out when they kept staggering.

Did everything have razor sharp features here? Or elemental powers? If they weren't getting their plating sliced through, they were getting pushed into each other by jets of water or strong gusts of wind or blinded by sudden swirling leaves that appeared out of nowhere. It was seriously angering Galvatron and even frustrating Hot Rod. There were a few times where he would get smacked by the Decepticon for being forced backward into him, and the Autobot would squawkback a retort or an irritated, "Stop!" and "Sorry!"

Eventually Hot Rod managed to beat back the rest of the feral animals down his hall, and he proceeded to turn just in time to hear an explosion and Galvatron scream in agony as he fell backward into him. It was all Hot Rod could do not to fall over with him after catching the Decepticon leader. He looked ahead and spied the cause of the fall. One last cannon creature was standing down Galvatron's side and it was charging up again to finish the job. Panic gripped the Autobot as he hurriedly aimed his blaster at the creature's head and fired several rounds. There was a screech and a thud as it fell to the ground, and then there was silence, with the exception of the transformers' ragged breaths.

The Autobot relaxed and let his blaster arm drop to his side. The battle was over. It was hard fought and it was brutal, but they were victorious. They couldn't dwell in this cavern, however. Not with more of those things lingering around. The young bot tucked the blaster away and finally turned his attention to the injured Decepticon in his arms. He had expected it to be bad and... honestly, he'd seen worse. But it still wasn't a laughing matter. Galvatron needed attention. "Gally... You good enough to walk...?" he puffed wearily.

Galvatron gritted his denta and tried to look back at Hot Rod. "I... will break... your aft..." he weakly wheezed.

Hot Rod couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped his lips. "Sure... After we get you fixed up... I can see your spark chamber..." He carefully moved Galvatron's arm around the Autobot's shoulders and wrapped his own arm around the Decepticon's side to further brace him. "Alright, ready...? Up we go... Nice and easy..."

At the very least Galvatron was well enough that he could help Hot Rod stumble along with him. They were both weakened and Hot Rod was smaller than the Decepticon leader, so the bridal-style of carrying wasn't an option. That was fine, though. This worked well enough. Hot Rod had tried to guide them back the way they came at first, but after Galvatron insisted that they travel deeper in he caved and so they went. Hot Rod was glad that he had listened.

The narrow cavern had soon opened up into another room. This one was _huge_ and... full of vibrant plant-life and color and _light_. Time actually flowed here. Hot Rod found himself staring and had to snap himself out of it. He could gawk later. Right now, he had to fix up Galvatron. Before they could continue, however, another one of those creatures stepped out of the nearby bushes. This one looked to resemble a cloud mixed with a deer from Earth and an interesting choice of colors. Hot Rod tensed and stared at it warily.

Galvatron, on the other hand, tried to raise the arm housing his cannon to fire at it. However, due to his condition, he was unable to carry out the action. "Kill it..." he ordered.

The Autobot hesitated, giving the cloud deer a chance to lean its neck forward a bit and sniff at them, then prance away. "I don't think it's hostile," he concluded. Ignoring the scoff he heard come from the Decepticon in his arms, he continued to watch the cloud deer.

Much to his surprise, it stopped not far ahead and turned back to look at them. It almost looked expectant. It must have grown exasperated with the unmoving bots, though, because it soon pranced back over and behind them, then nudged Hot Rod's leg insistently, nearly making him lose balance.

"Okay, okay, we're moving," he replied to it, to which it seemed satisfied and bounded ahead again.

It paused every now and again to let the limping bots catch up, then continued onward. When it finally stopped moving ahead, it was to look out over what seemed to be a large underground lake. The view was breath-taking to say the least. The water a glimmering soft pink with tints of mint green around the perimeter. Healthy, blooming plants seemingly leaning toward it to get a drink of what could only be assumed to be miracle water. Softer, gentler looking creatures than the ones they fought in the caverns calling out to each other and relaxing throughout the area. Some even swimming within the water.

"This is..." Hot Rod trailed off and tried to find a word that would describe the sheer majesty of this scene with justice. He found one after a few moments of silence. "...so _serene_. Don't you think?"

Galvatron was strangely quiet. For a bit, Hot Rod thought he might have passed out, but when he checked he saw the Decepticon awake and taking in the view.

The Autobot tried to press for an answer. "Aren't you glad we didn't kill that nice deer?" He waited, but still received no acknowledgement. The red and orange bot turned his attention back to the cloud deer, figuring he was never going to get a reply out of the stubborn bot.

The deer had stepped into the water while they were distracted and turned to them, looking expectant once more. When they didn't move again, it huffed and splashed its front hooves into the water a few times, gaining the curious stares of some of the other creatures gathered in the nearby vicinity.

"In there?" Hot Rod checked. "Alright, if you're sure. Might want to move over a bit. Don't want to crush you." Once the deer moved, he limped and waded into the water with Galvatron. He then carefully set the Decepticon down in a spot that was shallow enough that his head and neck were still above the surface when he was laid down in it. "How does that feel, Galvatron?"

The Decepticon seemed to snap out of whatever was ailing his circuits before, and he turned his head to look up at the Autobot. "Rather like... the plasma baths... back on that... that one planet whose name I forget..."

"Is... that good?"

A small smile found its way onto the Decepticon's lips, startling Hot Rod. "They were wonderful..."

He just couldn't believe it. The bot was actually _smiling_. Not a smirk. Not a sneer. A genuine, relaxed, _happy_ smile. For reason's unknown, it made Hot Rod's body heat up a few degrees. After he made short work of the unexpected emotions, he smiled back. "Well, don't mind if I do, then!" he chirped, moving to lie down beside him. Galvatron was right. This was _heavenly_. Never in his life had his circuits experienced such relief that made his body relax the way it was doing just then. In that moment, it felt like despite every bad thing that happened, everything was all right and it would continue to be all right.

Sure, they were separated from their friends and allies, but you know what? This was exactly something he needed, even if he hadn't realized it before. And it looked like it was just what Galvatron needed, too. Hot Rod turned his head to look at the Decepticon leader to find him beaming up at the ceiling filled with dazzling crystals that provided the light within this expansive room.

"If only every day could have moments that feel like this," he had sighed contentedly.

"Oh yeah. You don't get to relax much, do you?"

Galvatron groaned, but kept the smile. "Not at _all_. I'll tell you what, Hot Rod. Being the leader of an army is not all it's cut out to be. The Decepticon army especially. They're all a bunch of bit-brains with enflamed egos and daydreams that are much too big for them to handle. For once, it would be nice to have a Decepticon that I can place my trust in firmly. Someone capable, unquestioning, who won't pretend to follow me faithfully only to stab me in the backplating later."

My, Galvatron certainly was much more talkative than he had been previously. Or _ever_. "Sounds like you need to join the Autobots," Hot Rod grinned, gently poking the Decepticon on an uninjured part of his arm.

The suggestion made him snort with amusement. "Of course. Why hadn't I thought of that? Join the enemy!"

Hot Rod chuckled. "Hey, sure beats getting backstabbed, right?"

"That's something I have always envied of you Autobots, actually," Galvatron admitted. "You all appear to get along so well and never have to worry about someone within your group trying to take the matrix of leadership from you. No Autobot has _ever_ challenged Prime for the matrix. Not as far as I know, anyway. You all admire him terribly."

This made the red and orange bot pause and think back. "You're not wrong," he agreed. "Optimus is like a father to all of us. We'd never think to hurt him in any way, even if we don't agree with his decisions sometimes."

They laid there in euphoric silence, feeling their bodies shift slowly as their wounds healed thanks to the help of the lake. What made Hot Rod feel even better was that the leaking oil and lubricant from their bodies wasn't polluting the water. It seemed to disperse. Or perhaps something in the water was cleaning it up? Whatever the case, the Autobot's thoughts quickly relapsed to the conversation that had died slightly within those moments.

"You know, Gally," he started coyly. "You didn't hear this from me, but there's an Autobot that thinks you're a pretty good leader now and again."

This made Galvatron blink and turn to him with a surprised expression. "Really? ...No, you are just cracking another one of your jokes."

"No, really," he insisted.

The Decepticon leader fixed him with a disbelieving look. "Who?"

"Ehhh, maybe I'll tell you later," Hot Rod said with a cheeky grin.

This made Galvatron scowl. "No, you brought it up, you'll tell me now!" he demanded.

"These lips are sealed until further notice."

"Insufferable bootleg," the Decepticon swore, making Hot Rod laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's work on getting these two comfortable with each other, hm?
> 
> I'm working on another fic on top of this one, so once I'm done uploading up to chapter 6, there might be a while before I post for this again. Just to let you know.


	5. What Would He Do?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Galvatron needs a fixer upper.

Galvatron awoke to small yips and hums sounding in front of his faceplate. There, staring down at him, was one of those small-ish critters. Well, they were small in comparison to him. Some of them stood at full height up to Hot Rod's knee joints. The Decepticon leader narrowed his optics at the creature. "Get out of my face..." he growled. When the critter acknowledged his order and moved on about its business, he took the time to look around. For some reason, the previous night was a little fuzzy.

He decided to lie still and continue to let his gaze wander as he wracked his hard drive for the events of last night. The feeling he'd been overwhelmed with yesterday was still there. This entire place felt like a marvelous dream compared to the timeless wastes that were above ground. When they got a really good look at what this place had to offer last night, he had found himself stricken with wonder and awe. He thought he might have heard Hot Rod trying to say something, but he just couldn't bring himself to tear his gaze from the setting. Or pay much attention.

Perhaps the rare sensations he was feeling in that moment was due to nostalgia? Old memories kept popping up and overpowering the more recent events which left Galvatron a bit dazed. Then a thought crossed his mind. What would it have been like if both Autobot and Decepticon armies had been stuck here, fighting for their sparks and trying to find a way home? Rare sanctuaries like this would have been fought over and, more than likely, destroyed in the attempt to gain control. A portion of himself that Galvatron never knew existed felt like he would hate that result, and not due to the fact of it being a waste of effort.

That reminded him. He turned his head to look over at where Hot Rod lay beside him, still sleeping. The bot... wasn't so bad, Galvatron had to admit. Despite having misgivings of being a soldier, the Autobot did his job well. It had been rather humiliating to have been pounded so badly by mere animals. The Decepticon leader had expected Hot Rod to crack several jokes at his expense and ditch him. Or finish the job at the very least since they were, after all, mortal enemies. But the bot's actions of mercy left him speechless until he had tried to drag them back out of the cavern.

Hot Rod shifted positions and interrupted Galvatron's thought processes momentarily. He was on his side, perching his head in his servo and smiling at the Decepticon. Galvatron wasn't sure how he felt about that. "Morning, Gally. How are you feeling?"

Now he knew _exactly_ how he felt. "Irritated," he grunted with a glare. "How many times have I told you to stop that?"

"You didn't tell me to stop last night," Hot Rod pointed out. "I thought you decided to ignore it and just let me have my fun."

"...You are going to use it no matter how many times I tell you not to, aren't you?"

The Autobot's smile turned into a guilty and obviously _not sorry_ grin, which in turn made the Decepticon leader groan.

"Fine! Use it! See if I care!" he snarled. "But if you use it when we get back, I will beat you within an inch of your life!"

"Sounds fair," Hot Rod accepted. "So besides being annoyed with me, how're those wounds holding up?"

Galvatron turned his gaze down to his body and attempted to move it. He managed to get his legs to bend at the joints so they were out in plain sight. The gashes in his plating down there were still pretty darn bad, but at least the leaking had stopped.

Hot Rod sat up to get a better look. "Huh. Well, you're not going to be doing any walking on those for a while. How about your arms?"

When the Decepticon tried to raise one of his arms, he found that his hydraulic systems didn't want to cooperate. He growled with frustration. "You'll have to raise them."

With the given permission, the Autobot carefully took hold of the arm closest to him and raised it above the water to examine it. He drew in a hiss of a breath. "Yikes. Still got a ways to go with this. A section of motherboard got blown through. Heck, this probably isn't something that the miracle spring can fix."

"Then it's your job to find some sort of civilization or tools or parts or _what-have-you_ to fix it!" Galvatron snapped.

"Alright, boss," the other replied nonchalantly. "Let's see what else we've got." Being conscious of where Galvatron's injuries were, Hot Rod wrapped an arm around the Decepticon's back and placed his other servo on the older's chestplate, then slowly pulled him forward.

The action caught Galvatron off guard, so much so that he could feel himself heat up a tad. The reaction to being helped to sit up confused him. Instead of dwelling on this, he turned his attention down to his torso.

"Hey, your spark chamber is healing nicely," the Autobot commented. "I can't see as much of your spark anymore."

"That is news I like to hear. However, this healing process is too slow."

"Yeah, well, it's all we've got for now, so you'll just have to deal with it until we get back." And with that, Hot Rod laid him back in the water and got to his peds.

"Where do you think you're going?" Galvatron demanded.

The red and orange bot gave him a weird look. "Uh, to go find something to fix you? You know, like you _ordered_?"

"You're not just leaving without me!"

"Gally, you're not in _any_ condition to be moving and you're not exactly the lightest of bots. I'd be crushed if I tried to carry you with me. You're just going to have to trust me. I promise I'll be back as soon as I can."

Galvatron was about to argue otherwise, but that last sentence made him pause. If there was one thing he knew for a fact, it was that Autobots had a tendency to keep their promises. Hot Rod had demonstrated this not too long ago. With this in mind, he stopped the argument he had planned with a huff. "Just be quick about it!"

"Quick? Are you kidding me? I'm the fastest thing on wheels!"

"Doesn't that title belong to Blurr?" the Decepticon countered.

"Hey, come on!" the other protested as he walked to the room's exit. "Blurr's not here, so right now it's me!"

The Decepticon leader watched as he left, smirking with amusement. Perhaps the Autobot wasn't as bad as he thought. ...Primus, did he _really_ just think that?

~~~~~~~

Hot Rod really didn't want to go out on his own knowing what lurked in the cavern they came from, but Galvatron needed fixing up. Otherwise they would never make it off the planet without having a _ton_ of difficulty. When he heard a small hum come from behind him, he turned to look over his shoulder. Not too far from him was the cloud deer. He blinked with surprise. "You're coming with? Are you sure? The monsters out here are pretty nasty."

The deer snorted and stomped one of its front hooves on the ground a few times, then approached. The Autobot took that to mean it wanted to tag along. "All right, if you're sure. Stay close then."

As they traveled through the cavern, it remained mostly quiet. When they had encountered their first enemy, Hot Rod had quite a shock. The deer had wasted no time while he was pulling out his blaster and charged forward, ramming into the predator with its large horns. It had then backed up and stomped its front hooves on the ground, summoning a bolt of lightning that crashed down on the enemy and knocked it out. The bot stared for a few quiet moments, his jaw hanging open. "...Wow. Okay, I'm really glad you decided to tag along, now." The statement appeared to have amused the animal. A thought occurred to the Autobot as they continued. "So, you must know a lot about this place, huh? Do you think you could guide me? You know, to somewhere that has a bit more civilization? ...Is there a place like that here?"

The deer hummed in response.

Not being fluent in the language, Hot Rod took a wild stab in the dark. "Okay, great! When we leave this cave, let's go there, please!"

Another hum. The rest of the walk out didn't seem to take as long as opposed to when they first explored the place. He and Galvatron had been stumbling through a maze, however, and this deer lived here. It was good to know it wouldn't take ages to make it back down to Galvatron through the place, otherwise it would have been a headache and a half.

Soon they were out in the ravine and moving ever onward. Hot Rod took the liberty to morph into car mode to follow after his new friend that took off at a gallop. It was a long road through a barren valley. Every now and again the bot could see some hostile-looking animals stop to peer down at them, but none decided to make the effort to chase after them. Not scrumptious enough, he had guessed, which made him glad he was a transformer and not a human or anything else with flesh.

What had happened to this planet? Why was there only a tiny sanctuary in the middle of a death cavern that had actual life within it while the rest of the planet seemed to be stuck in time? It just didn't make sense. And the fact that the most sentient beings around were animals didn't do him much good in the way of answers. He sighed and hoped that the civilization they were traveling to would have some sort of way for him to find out.

How much time went by, Hot Rod was unsure, but it felt like months before they finally arrived at an icy settlement atop a mountain range. It was deserted, of course, but the remnants of the settlement were bountiful. Technology was littered about the area. What really stood out to Hot Rod, however, was the large amount of snow that was hanging above the place. It looked like just before time stopped, an avalanche had been about to hit. The thought of the hanging threat looming over him as he looked around made the Autobot nervous, but what choice did he have?

Seeing the deer venture forth under the hanging avalanche helped him set aside his temporary nerve paralysis and follow closely behind it. "It couldn't have been anywhere else, huh?" he asked. He got no answer. "Guess not..." He scanned the settlement a bit before getting to work looking for parts he could use. At the very least, a motherboard that suited Galvatron's needs. He also needed to find something to solder with.

An hour of effort and search won him several motherboards to bring back and compare with Galvatron's arm and a makeshift soldering kit that he could use to put everything together. Satisfied with his haul, he tucked everything away and turned to leave, but stopped when something caught his attention. Noise was coming from somewhere close. Straining his audio receptors, he managed to make out talking. Mechanical. Almost robotic. And familiar. He followed the talking to a hanging circle of light not far from the perimeter of the settlement.

Hot Rod's optics widened at the sight of his Autobot friends on Cybertron. He rushed up to the circle and stared through. There was Optimus along with Arcee and Kup. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but he didn't care to know anyway. "Guys!" he shouted. "Arcee! Optimus! Kup! Guys, I'm here!" He paused and waited for a response, but they just kept talking to each other. They couldn't hear him. Hot Rod tried pressing a servo to the circle and let out a gasp as it went right through.

A portal! He could go home! He could forget all about this nightmare planet full of killer animals, dead time, and Galvatron! He could leave Galvatron behind and end this stupid war between the Autobots and Decepticons! After all, the tyrant was disabled! He took a step forward, a broad grin on his face... and then he stopped. He wanted to leave so badly. But as the young bot stared at his cherished leader, he got a guilty feeling in the core of his spark. Hot Rod had promised to return to Galvatron and fix him up. And he was an Autobot. Having that title meant he swore an oath to strive for universal peace and to protect the citizens of Cybertron with his life. Like it or not, Galvatron was a citizen of Cybertron.

...What would Optimus do?

Slowly... Hot Rod removed his servo from the portal and took a step back, his smile faded completely. "You'd stay and help him if you were in my shoes... wouldn't you, Optimus?" he whispered. The bot knew in his spark that Prime would absolutely show mercy, even to his enemy. Even if it meant the war continued. Because that was what the universe needed the most right now. More mercy. Hesitantly, Hot Rod took a few more steps back, then gained his resolve and put on a determined look. "I'll fix him up and then we'll be back, Optimus. Both of us."

And with that, the young Autobot turned his back to the portal and returned to the entrance of the settlement where his deer friend was waiting. Together, they made the journey back. When they re-emerged in the hidden oasis, his optics were greeted by the sight of a couple creatures cuddled up to Galvatron. A fluffy-looking bird had settled on his crown and what looked to be a type of lizard had curled up by his shoulder. And surprise of surprises, Galvatron seemed to be fine with it.

The sight made Hot Rod smile. Galvatron had been showing off new colors the whole time they'd been away from their allies. This? This made Hot Rod feel better about his decision to stay. Maybe there was some hope for the future of peace after all. And maybe... maybe Galvatron could be redeemed. Heck, maybe they could even be friends. That seemed like a pretty big "maybe" to Hot Rod, but he was willing to give it a shot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good ol' Optimus spreading good morals through example. But enough about him. He's not the main characters of this story.
> 
> Thank you, Hot Rod, for not ending the story before it got better.


	6. With a Splash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Galvatron gets fixed and he and Hot Rod have a nice talk.

Galvatron was having a pleasant rest until that annoying Autobot interrupted. "Ultra Magnus' angst, this is too adorable."

The Decepticon jumped slightly and turned his head to look back at him as best he could, startling the animals as he did and making them run off. "Wh--?! When did you get back?! How long have you been standing there?!" he demanded.

Hot Rod grinned at him. "Been back for about, oh... five minutes?"

"You should have _SAID_ something, you _GLITCH_!!" he bellowed. If he could blush, he'd be a solid red. That idiotic Autobot wasted time and watched him like some creep just to humiliate him and have a story to tell when he got back to his Autobot friends! He was _so lucky_ that Galvatron didn't have use of his cannon arm!

The Autobot chuckled. "Don't worry, Gally, your secret's safe with me," he assured. He then got into a position that looked like he was ready to run into the lake. "Brace yourself! I'm coming in!"

"Do _NOT_ \--!" The rest of the sentence was drowned out by the sound of Hot Rod's peds carrying him toward the water at a fast pace, then he jumped, curled up, and landed in the water with a big _splash_ , covering Galvatron in water completely for a moment. When the water level receded again, the Decepticon spat out the water that entered his mouth and snarled at the bot that caused it. "Bot interfacing knock-off!! Matrix blast you, useless mudslogger!!" he swore loudly.

Hot Rod laughed and made his way back over to Galvatron's side, kneeling beside him. "Calm down, Gal," he soothed. "I'm not completely useless. I found supplies and I still remember what Ratchet taught me about engineering and repairs."

"Hurry up and get to work!" Galvatron snapped. _Primus_ , why did this Autobot have to irk him worse than the others?! Why did he have to be stuck with _him_?! Why not Optimus?!

As Hot Rod pulled out the materials and tools to get to work, he decided that he wanted to make small talk. "So was it nice before I came in?"

"Yes!" the Decepticon answered without missing a beat.

"I'm sorry. You looked so happy and I wanted to give you as much time as I could before I interrupted it. That's why I didn't speak up."

Galvatron's temper waned slightly when presented with the alternate perspective. He huffed grumpily but said, "Just don't do it again."

"I promise. Mind if I use your chestplate as a work bench?"

The Decepticon narrowed his optics, then eased up and sighed. "If you must."

"Thanks." Hot Rod proceeded to carefully begin the extraction of the damaged motherboard after tucking a few pieces he needed in the indent within Galvatron's chestplate. "You know, when you're back up to a hundred percent, I found us a way back home."

Galvatron perked up. "Excellent! I've had enough of this--" A thought occurred to the leader that made him pause mid-sentence and widen his optics. If Hot Rod found a functioning exit... then by all means, he could have left without him. ...But the Autobot was still there. He turned his head to look up into Hot Rod's optics. "...You didn't leave..."

"I didn't," the Autobot confirmed. "You're still hurt and I made a promise to you that I'd come back and get you fixed up."

This startled the Decepticon leader. He knew that Autobots took their promises seriously, but _this_? To come back for their worst enemy even if it meant the war continued just because they held their oaths sacred? No, that couldn't have been all there was to that decision. "It _can't_ just be because you promised."

Hot Rod was quiet for a few minutes as he worked. "At first... it was because of my commitment to the Autobot cause. And because it's what Optimus would have done. But when I came back and saw you and those animals? You've... shown me a side to your spark that I never thought could exist. And I want to see more of that."

Galvatron furrowed his optic ridges. "So you are trying to convert me to your cause, after all."

"I want to forget about the war while we're here," the Autobot corrected. "I _want_ to get to know _you_ as an individual Cybertronian and not as a Decepticon leader. That is if... you'd be willing to let me." He paused his work and looked Galvatron straight in his optics. "Can we do that?"

Galvatron had to think about this. Hot Rod wanted to ignore the politics? The war? And just learn more about Galvatron as a citizen? That was... dangerous. He hadn't let anyone get to know him personally since even before the war for Cybertron's control began. Would it be wise to do that now? With the enemy? It would make him vulnerable. ...However, it would make Hot Rod vulnerable too, if it were a give and take system.

After much deliberating, he snapped out of his thoughts to find the Autobot had went back to work and remained quiet to let the Decepticon concentrate. Galvatron took in a breath, hesitated, then finally spoke up. "I would be willing to try."

Hot Rod donned a warm and gentle smile across his faceplate. "That's great. That's... great. I'm really glad to hear that, Galvatron. And I look forward to finding out who you are underneath that Decepticon leader exterior of yours."

"You will reveal your true colors to me, as well. This will not just be about me," Galvatron stated firmly.

"Yes, of course," the Autobot agreed. "Absolutely. I want you to get to know me better, too. I'm glad that's settled."

An awkward silence fell between them for a few minutes and within that time Hot Rod managed to disconnect Galvatron's arm motherboard and proceeded forward to comparing it to the other motherboards he collected to see which one would best work for what he needed. Eventually Galvatron couldn't stand the silence and spoke up again. "So how does this work?"

"Well," the other started with a thoughtful puff of air. "It usually starts with a probing question. Like, uh... I dunno, a really _basic_ one would be 'What's your favorite something-or-other?' but I don't particularly feel like asking one of those. It's kind of... I don't know... weak? As a starting question, anyway."

"...So..."

"Okay, uh, how about: What did you do before the civil war?"

Before the civil war? Primus above, that took him back. Galvatron had to think hard about that one. "What I did... I haven't had to recall that information for millions of years. I wonder if it's even still saved in my drive?"

As Galvatron pondered the question Hot Rod breathed a laugh and returned most of his attention to the board repair. "Take your time."

"...I think... Yes, I was a soldier for Cybertron. I was often deployed along with my unit and several other units to settle disputes between Cybertron and other planets."

"Oh, so this life is pretty much the only one you've ever really known, huh?" the Autobot guessed.

"A life of fighting, yes," Galvatron confirmed. "It was something I enjoyed, however. The rush of a battle, the satisfaction of victory, the clashing of skills to see who was the better combatant and--in turn--had the more powerful conviction. I was so proud when I was promoted to the rank of commander." A smile made its way onto the Decepticon's faceplate as he recalled those early days.

"Who did you serve with?" the other pressed.

"Nobody you would have heard about, I'm sure. But if you must know, their designations were Tarn, Helex, Kaon, Vos, and Tesarus. We made up the Decepticon Justice Division."

Hot Rod frowned. "Like the cities?"

"Precisely. Within our unit, Kaon was the Intelligence Officer and Tarn was Sub-Commander. The others were regular soldiers, but they did their job well. Our group knew more victories than defeats and became known and feared throughout many of the planets that had gone against Cybertron. Despite the fact that we were the best at our job, that wasn't to say we were mindless soldiers. For example, Tarn loved poetry, philosophy, and what he would describe as 'beautiful music'. He was a man of culture."

"Huh. So Decepticons took to the crafts and arts even though you were built for soldier work?"

"We did escort missions and guard work as well as soldier work. When most of your charges have arts they are interested in and discuss them with you, you pick up a few of those interests here and there."

"So what did you pick up?" the Autobot questioned.

Galvatron hummed and thought a bit. "I took an interest in languages for a time, but didn't have the patience to stick to it. Later on Tarn got me into philosophy. I have always had an interest in figuring out how things work, though. Believe it or not, Wheeljack was a frequent escort of mine. He'd be summoned hither and yon to work on technological things for Cybertronians and other races alike."

This new information made Hot Rod blink and pause. "Really? _Wheeljack_?"

Galvatron grinned at the astonished tone. "You sound surprised."

"I mean, I knew he was a genius inventor and engineer, but I never thought he was _that_ big a deal," the young bot exclaimed. "And I sure wouldn't take you for the guarding type."

"Type or not, it was my job and I took that seriously. Wheeljack was one of the few escort missions I ever looked forward to, in all honesty. It was fascinating watching him work." The Decepticon leader turned his head to watch the Autobot work on transferring circuitry from one motherboard to the other. "Your turn."

"To tell pre-war stories? I was created during the war, so this is kind of all I've known, too," Hot Rod said. "I could tell you about where I was before I was stationed on Earth, but that would be kind of a boring tale. Lots of Autobot bootcamp. Not a lot of fun. Took me a while to get out of it because I kept pulling pranks on the trainer. He did _not_ like me from the very start to the very end." A broad grin made its way to the Autobot's faceplate, making Galvatron roll his optics.

"I can't imagine why," he said.

"Might want to be careful. Your sarcasm is oozing out of your faceplate," Hot Rod advised with a snicker.

"Just another part of me you'll need to fix, hm?"

The red and orange bot hummed with pretend thoughtfulness. "Do I, though? I don't know, I'm feeling kind of lazy. I think I'll just leave it broken."

This made Galvatron laugh. If this is what Hot Rod was like with bots he wanted as friends, then this was going to be a much less irritating stay than initially thought. For once, the Decepticon leader was glad he was wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a portion of the world building I mentioned. The Gen 1 cartoon left a lot of characters' backstories open. So I decided to take some liberties. Do you agree? Disagree? I'm open for opinions or thoughts about this sort of stuff. Just be nice about them.


	7. The Snow Falls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the two bots try for home.

"So what do you think this lake is made of?" Hot Rod asked. It had been a few days and Galvatron had mostly healed by this time, so the two were sitting out of the water and off to the side to watch the animals, and perhaps stroke a few who came over to sit with them. "It seems like all the oil and mech fluid that leaked out of us just disappeared, and what's more it keeps us charged."

"Yes, I noticed that. For all the world, I couldn't quite tell you. I'm tempted to collect some of it and bring it back with us. It would certainly be useful and give Shockwave something to do," Galvatron mused, fiddling with a stone in one servo to give himself something to do.

"What would he do with it?"

"I'd have him examine it thoroughly. Much like your Autobot Perceptor," the Decepticon leader clarified.

This? This small talk and conversation with Galvatron? This was nice. Hot Rod absolutely did not regret making the decision to stay and get to know the bot. Just within these past few days he'd learned a ton more about Galvatron than the past so-many years had ever taught him. For example, he learned that if Galvatron wanted, he could multi-task to an impressive level. Coming up with battle plans while reading reports about something else or keeping track of a conversation was something he did regularly. Hot Rod could barely focus on reports, let alone come up with plans as he read. And if a conversation was thrown into the mix, he'd have to start all over again.

He learned the leader actually enjoyed dry humor and sarcasm and made a note to use more of it. He even found out the Decepticon liked small but genuine compliments. Hot Rod supposed that anything was better than extravagant flattery, which was likely the most Galvatron got. Just the day before, Hot Rod had told the Decepticon leader that he liked the way he took such good care of his fusion cannon. It had thrown Galvatron for a loop and made him pause before offering a small "thank you".

And of course the Autobot kept true to his word and gave information about himself away to Galvatron. Such like, how he liked to slack off on Earth every now and again to go fishing. And there was also the fact he sometimes couldn't get himself to shut down at nights, so would stay awake, lost in thought. "Insomnia," his human friend Daniel had called it. Galvatron found that tidbit mildly shocking. He hadn't taken Hot Rod as the type to have trouble powering down each night. When he had asked if the Autobot had a way to counter the problem, the red and orange bot shrugged and said nothing he tried ever worked.

Galvatron suddenly getting to his peds startled the Autobot back into the present. He must have caught the Autobot jumping, because the Decepticon raised an optic ridge at him. "What was that?"

"S-Sorry, just... lost in thought," the young bot stammered slightly, getting up as well. "Are we going somewhere?"

"Out to the exit you found. While the stay has been nice, it's high time we got back."

Hot Rod felt a small knot of disappointment settle in his spark. "Oh... Yeah, it... We really should be heading back, huh?"

"You don't sound pleased to be going back to your friends," Galvatron observed.

The Autobot winced a little. "I should be, shouldn't I...?" He sighed. "I want to go back to them, I really do. I miss them terribly. But I also don't want to leave yet. I want to keep getting to know you. I don't want to fight with you anymore..."

Galvatron stared for a bit, then turned to face him fully. "Hot Rod. I appreciate the sentiment. This stay hasn't been terrible and it was pleasant to get to know a different side to you. But you must remember we are enemies first and foremost. It's impossible for us to be friends. You need to accept that if you are to live when we get back."

The knot grew. "Right..." Of course. Galvatron was a war leader before all else. He was a Decepticon. And Hot Rod was an Autobot. The two couldn't come together in the tyrant's optics. The young bot took a deep breath, then huffed out a false laugh and grinned at the Decepticon in front of him. "Well, it was fun while it lasted. Let's get to that portal, Gally."

Galvatron rolled his optics before walking with Hot Rod out of the cavern, the Autobot pausing to take a glance back at the oasis and wave to the animals before they left. The drive to the abandoned mountain settlement was silent save for the ambient noises sounding from all around them. Maybe Hot Rod could lead Galvatron elsewhere, then pretend it was supposed to be there and say it vanished. Then they would have to stay a bit longer. No... He couldn't do that in good conscience. That was dirty play and the Decepticon was right. They'd been away for long enough. They needed to get back.

They had barely become friends and gotten to know each other. They had only just started getting along after years of despising each other. ...So why, then, was this so difficult? Why did the knot in his spark hurt? Mm... He needed to stop thinking about it. Speculating and dwelling on this was only going to make the return harder and that was the last thing he needed. He glanced at Galvatron through his rearview mirror. The Decepticon had on his resting scowl. Was it Hot Rod's imagination... or did Galvatron's scowl seem a bit... different than usual? No, he was sure of it. There was a hint of emotion in it, but the Autobot couldn't tell what precisely.

The young bot turned his attention back to the path ahead as they forged onward. It was a while before they arrived at the outskirts of the settlement. When they got there, Hot Rod transformed back into robot mode and Galvatron landed beside him. "This is the place," the Autobot said, letting his optics wander it.

Galvatron looked around as well, his gaze hard and critical. "I don't like it. It's too easy a spot to set up a trap. That snow up there could easily bury us if someone knew how to unfreeze it from time's grasp. And the buildings are perfect spots to camp out in and wait to release an ambush."

"Relax, Gally, would you? Last time I was here, the place was abandoned. Besides, we haven't seen any intelligent life here except for the animals."

"Are you telling me the creatures made the machinery here?" The Decepticon snapped.

Hot Rod couldn't blame him for being skeptical. It did seem highly unlikely. "Whether they did or they didn't, that hardly matters now. The portal is just behind those buildings there," he pointed and started to walk, but stopped abruptly and tensed when the ground beneath them began to tremble lightly then gradually grew to violent tremors. Barely keeping balance as it was, Hot Rod staggered backwards into Galvatron when the ground in front of them exploded upwards, throwing snow and rocks everywhere and revealing a large orange and black, goopy monster that had portions of electronics in it like it had absorbed them when they came into contact.

Galvatron glowered at the monster and set Hot Rod back on his peds. "I told you! Get ready for battle and don't let it touch you!" With that, Galvatron aimed his fusion cannon at the monster and fired, causing it to screech as its flesh splattered from the impact. The spot he hit quickly repaired itself, however.

The Autobot pulled out his blaster upon being commanded and added his firing to Galvatron's efforts. The thing in front of them just tanked the blows with no sign of being disabled. "What is this thing made of?!" He shouted as he dodged a large club-like arm attempting to crush him.

Galvatron leapt into the air to avoid the attack, and flew around the beast to get a better view. All the while, he stayed out of reach. "Whatever it's made of, it doesn't appear to have a weakness! I can't spot any facial features or parts to it that look sensitive!" He tensed and shot backwards when an electronic on the creature's back lit up and began beeping. "Bomb!!"

Hot Rod had just enough time to cross his arms in front of his head before a powerful explosion was sent careening outward to eat away at them. Thankfully, Galvatron had moved far enough away that all he felt was the sound waves, and while the Autobot was closer, he was merely sent flying backwards to land in the snow. The young bot grunted as he started to sit up, then yelped and rolled away from that spot as the club arm came crashing down again. The monster started to lunge again, only to hiss and be thrown off course when Galvatron's fusion cannon hit it square in the back.

It whipped around to turn its attention to him, giving Hot Rod the time he needed to properly recover and adjust his position. Galvatron kept firing and glanced around for things to use against it. He dodged a portion of the monster that it had thrown at him, then suddenly aimed upwards. "Seek cover!" He ordered.

The Autobot looked up, then widened his optics as he realized what Galvatron was about to do and quickly dived into one of the sturdier-looking buildings with a roof overhead. He heard one long shot go off, then a loud rumbling, and a few seconds later Galvatron flew into the very same building and joined him in a corner. The rumbling only got louder from there. "You got it moving?!" Hot Rod shouted with disbelief. But sure enough, a moment later there was a loud **crash** and more tremors kicked up as snow filled the settlement, quickly burying it and forcing itself wherever it could on its way down the mountain. The monster's screech was almost drowned out by all the noise the avalanche was making.

The two bots hunkered down in their shelter, Hot Rod squeezing his optics shut and pressing himself as far into the corner as he could while Galvatron was braced against the walls to cover Hot Rod's front. He kept his optics open, but it did him no good when all had gone pitch black due to the snow covering everything. Some snow had broken the door and pushed itself inside with them, but it stopped when it had reached their position. It took the rumbling about five minutes to fade completely. By that time, Hot Rod had opened his optics to stare up into Galvatron's.

Galvatron's glowing red optics seemed to be looking him up and down as if checking for something. "You appear uninjured," he simply said after a bit.

The fear and adrenaline that had been gripping the Autobot throughout the event started to wane. He let out a breath and nodded. "I'm not hurt," he confirmed. "How about you?"

The Decepticon smirked. "Fit and raring for more. It's been a while since I've seen action as intense as that was."

A chuckle escaped Hot Rod's lips. "You're nuts, Gally. Nice thinking, by the way. It hadn't occurred to me that we could use that paused avalanche."

"It was an obvious route to take," Galvatron deflected as he pushed off the walls and backed up, then paused before finishing with, "Thank you anyway."

"Of course. So how do we get out of _this_ mess, O brave and heroic leader?"

"Don't push it," the older bot warned, sounding more amused than annoyed. "Just give me a moment."

And so Hot Rod stood still and waited patiently, watching Galvatron move about the one-room building and survey the scene. Eventually the bot stopped moving and stood there silently for a minute, causing the Autobot to speak up. "Well?"

"Well, there seems to be only one efficient solution," the Decepticon answered, aiming his fusion cannon at the door, charging it up, and then firing it. The snow melted away from the attack and Galvatron proceeded to continue firing, forming what looked to Hot Rod to be a pathway. They weren't as deep under as the Autobot had thought, so after another half hour of melting snow the two stepped out into the world of greys and blacks again.

"Is there _anything_ you can't do?" The younger bot asked with a smile.

To which Galvatron turned to him with his resting scowl and said flatly, "Win a war, apparently."

The other stared, unsure how to react to that. Was that a test? Was he looking for a fight? Then suddenly a small smirk showed up on the Decepticon leader's faceplate and Hot Rod proceeded to laugh. "That was good! You had me going, there!"

"Yes, you're not the only one with jokes, Autobot. Now let's see if that portal is buried."

"Right," the other agreed, calming himself and leading Galvatron to the area where he saw the portal. By some miracle the snow had left the portal completely untouched. Hot Rod shot a quick prayer of thanks to Primus as they approached. "There it is! Home, sweet--"

The rest of his sentence was cut off as the goop monster from before burst out from underneath the snow behind them, thrashing wildly with livid bellowing. Galvatron moved out of the way in time, but Hot Rod wasn't so lucky this time around. He was slammed into horizontally by a club arm and proceeded to smash through a building with the arm he was now trapped in. When the monster started to pull back its arm, the Autobot extended his one free one toward his temporary companion and called out to him with desperate panic as he was swiftly seeping further into the monster.

Galvatron glanced at the portal, and for a brief and horrible moment Hot Rod thought he would take this chance to flee without him and leave the Autobot to become one with the creature. But it didn't take long for the Decepticon to grit his denta and turn back to the monster. He dashed forward, away from the portal, stopped when he was close enough to get a proper aim, then carefully lined up his cannon and fired. The goopy flesh around Hot Rod exploded and the younger bot dropped. The Autobot landed hard on the ground with a grunt, only to be scooped up in Galvatron's servos and whisked away into the air as the monster charged up the bomb on its back again.

Hot Rod wrapped his arms around Galvatron's neck to secure himself and looked over his shoulder to watch the monster explode. The Autobot widened his optics and stared with horror as the ensuing explosion shattered the portal they had nearly gone through. He tightened his grip as Galvatron wobbled a bit from the sound waves, but the Decepticon soon steadied himself and continued flying away. A tactical retreat. They had failed.

It wasn't until they had left the mountain far behind that Galvatron landed and set Hot Rod on his peds. He merely stood quietly and watched as the Autobot wiped the flesh remaining on his plating off, a hard scowl present on his faceplate.

The young bot couldn't look at him. He felt sick and the glare he was receiving wasn't making the feeling any better. They stood in silence until Hot Rod couldn't take it anymore. "Galvatron..." He started, coolant slowly leaking underneath his optics. "I'm sorry... The portal... it--"

"I know. I heard it," Galvatron cut in gruffly.

"You could have left... You had time..."

"Oh for Primus' sake," Galvatron placed his servos on his sides. "Are you going to mope because of a missed opportunity?"

Hot Rod looked startled at the brusque yet calm manner the tyrant was taking this. "It's... It's my fault we didn't get back, though..."

"No, it was that creature's fault. And I made the conscious decision not to leave you behind to it."

"...Why...? I'm in your debt and more grateful than I can say, but... it's just not like you to..." Hot Rod trailed off.

The Decepticon raised an optic ridge. "To save someone?" He finished. "You listen here, Hot Rod. If anything is going to kill you, it's going to be _my_ fusion cannon. _Nothing else_ is allowed to even _try_ or they will face my wrath. Now stop leaking." On the word "leaking," Galvatron proceeded to punch the Autobot's shoulder. It hurt, but it wasn't as hard as it would have been had he been angry.

The younger bot winced and rubbed his shoulder, then chuckled and wiped away the leaking coolant from off his faceplate. "Alright... Thanks, Galvatron."

The Decepticon looked away and folded his arms. "Insufferable bootleg," he said, not a hint of venom behind the words to be found.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mmmm, Hot Rod is coming around. Even Galvatron is. He just needs to be beat over the head before he'll figure it out.
> 
> Thanks so much for the comments, kudos, and reads. I'm glad you guys are enjoying the story thus far and I hope you stick around 'til the end.


	8. Step By Step

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the two transformers learn a bit more about the planet they're on.

And so the two found themselves traveling once more to a destination unknown. They knew what they were looking for, but the next destination could be anywhere. Or non-existent, for that matter. Galvatron kept an optic out while occasionally throwing a glance at Hot Rod. He seemed to be in a better mood than before, but still a bit shaken from the experience they had just been through.

The Decepticon recalled the battle they had partaken in and ran through their actions over, looking for anything they could have done differently to win. Getting that bomb out of it would have been a huge help, but with the way it went off, it seemed like it had been wired throughout its body. So getting it _out_ would have been an issue. Finding a way to disable it would have required actually going into the monster and _that_ was out of the question. With the way Hot Rod had been quickly seeping into the monster's body, that would have been a one-way trip, so disarming the bomb was impossible.

Galvatron's thoughts lingered on the way the Autobot had expressed his terror. He growled quietly to himself. He really needed to stop thinking about it. ...But he just couldn't help it. The sight of his desperation, his dependance and hope on the fact that Galvatron would stay to aid him, made the Decepticon's spark churn. And the thought of Hot Rod going offline, buried within the monster and becoming a part of it, _really_ riled him up.

"Something up, Gally? You're making scary faces again," Hot Rod called back to him, yanking him back to reality. "Am I driving too fast for you?"

"Of course not!" The Decepticon huffed then came up with the lie of, "I was just thinking about how Starscream would have taken that fight back there as an opportunity to overthrow me."

"Eh, forget about Starscream," the Autobot dismissed. "He's no harm to anyone anymore. He's not even worth thinking about."

This brought a brief smirk to Galvatron's faceplate. So they were of the same opinion about _one_ thing, then. He was right, though. There was no point in going back to that place now that their way home was down, so it was a waste of time to look for ways they could have defeated their opponent. "Do you need a break?"

"Oh, Gally..." The younger bot started melodramatically. "I don't know how much more driving I can take... After all, I'm a delicate bot! I don't know where I'd be without such a strong, strapping Decepticon like you with me!"

Galvatron groaned and rolled his optics. Well, he was certainly doing _fine_ if he was pulling stuff like this. "We're not stopping, even if you complain later."

Hot Rod snickered. "That's okay. I think I see something that we'll want to stop at ahead."

The Decepticon furrowed his optic ridges and scanned the horizon. Sure enough, a set of stone ruins were standing in the distance, growing bigger as the two bots drew ever closer. The most interesting part about it was the fact that its walls were thoroughly cracked and the whole place looked like it had been in the process of falling apart before the time flow stopped. Chunks of stone bricks and debris hung suspended in midair. "So there is. All right, _princess_. You shall have your break when we get there."

"My hero."

When they arrived, Galvatron insisted on scoping the place out just in case there might be traps. He was pleased the Autobot had learned from last time, because this time he didn't back talk. He just stayed put and told the leader to have a good time. The citadel-like building had a bunch of new creatures in it, these ones looking to be like the dinobots, but fleshy and glowing. Some were mere goopy spheres floating around. The Decepticon saw no obvious or hidden traps that he knew to look out for, so returned to Hot Rod.

"Be prepared for battle. If we want to seek shelter here, we shall have to fight to claim a portion of space," he reported.

The younger bot pulled out his blaster. "Lead the way, Galvatron."

The two transformers headed inside, weapons at the ready. Compared to the creatures they fought in the caverns leading to the oasis and the giant they had just finished running from, these things were cakewalks. They didn't put up much of a fight despite being hostile to the presence of the two of them. Galvatron had to admit, he was mildly disappointed. The citadel halls were covered in memorials and plaques depicting... he wasn't sure. Hot Rod had taken an interest in them, however, and stopped to stare at each one once each area had been cleared.

"Are you learning anything from those? They look like useless illustrations and scribbles to me," Galvatron said.

Hot Rod continued to observe the plaque he was currently in front of. "Some of these are covered in what looks like names," he replied, looking thoughtful. He hummed and furrowed his optic ridges. "And the illustrations... The ones in the first hall were showing this as a place of worship, I think. The ones in the second hall showed that the people who dwelt here coexisted with the animals."

"So there were humans?"

"I don't know what race they were. I just know there were people and there were animals and they helped each other live comfortable lives."

"And now only the animals remain," Galvatron mused. "What do these plaques mean?"

Hot Rod threw his gaze over the rest of the decorated walls. "That plaque mentions something about 'locations'. And then there's a list of names that I assume are the locations because these illustrations all have one name underneath them with a depiction of what the place looks like. Locations of _what_ , though, I don't know. The name plaque took some damage to it before time froze, I think. Or maybe it's wear and tear from the creatures that took up residence here."

Color Galvatron impressed. Hot Rod had an optic for puzzle solving and gathering information through the environment. "Good work, Hot Rod. Keep it up."

The Autobot clearly wasn't expecting praise. He had blinked and turned to him with a startled expression. "Th...Thanks, Gal."

They continued into the next room and cleared it out, then paused again to let the younger bot see what he could discern from the slabs on the walls. It didn't take long for him to speak up, this time with excitement.

"I was right! Look at that!" He exclaimed, pointing at an illustration with labels. "That's a map! And if I'm remembering correctly... Wait right here!" And with that, he bolted back to the previous room. The Decepticon only needed to wait half a minute before Hot Rod came running back into the room to point at the map again. "That place! Yvillium! That's the oasis we stayed at! Those locations mark safe spots, I think! So if we're here," he moved his digit to point at a star on the map, "then we could head northeast and find another sanctuary to stay at!" He concluded.

Galvatron smirked and raised his fists, internally matching Hot Rod's excitement. "Excellent! Then that will be our next destination!" He then gave the Autobot's shoulder a proud punch, making him stagger forward.

"Ow..." he complained with a small laugh. "Easy there. Remember, delicate princess here."

"Grow thicker plating," he retorted with a smirk. "Let's go."

Hot Rod gave the map another once over, then dashed back to the entrance with Galvatron, morphed into car mode, and led the way to the new sanctuary.

This newfound information was a _great_ turn of events. With that building there to provide needed information, perhaps they could get a better understanding of the world they were on and how it operated. At the very least, it came to Galvatron's attention that maybe the animals had a use and could aid them in their escape. He would likely need to rely on the Autobot's ability to get along with them, but he doubted that would pose an issue. After all, the creatures at the last sanctuary had been trusting enough. Hospitable, even.

The path they took led them into a dense forest, which forced Galvatron to lower his position if he wanted to stay in the air. After some time moving through it, Hot Rod let out a small groan of complaint and stopped.

"What is it now?" The Decepticon sighed as he paused and looked back at him.

The Autobot transformed into robot mode and tried to get a look at the wheel behind his left shoulder. "Something's stuck on my wheel," he grumbled, struggling to get a look. When he couldn't do that, he tried feeling around but couldn't reach.

After watching him fail at these actions, Galvatron landed behind him, found the issue, and yanked it out.

"Hey, be careful!" Hot Rod yelped. "You might've tore a hole in my tire!"

"I fail to see how that would prevent you from driving. You still have three good ones," the Decepticon grunted, looking the annoyance over. A small, but jagged stone with some sort of green symbol on it. "Besides, it looks fine to me."

The Autobot shot him a slightly irritated look, but took the rock calmly when Galvatron offered it to him. "A glyph, huh? Might be necessary for something."

"Hold on to it if you think so. Keep moving."

The young bot tucked the glyph away. "We should be close to where that map said the sanctuary would be," he said, walking forward and not bothering to drive. The next time, he stopped in front of a rock face and looked around in confusion.

Galvatron folded his arms and tapped his digits against his bicep. "Well? Where is it?"

"It's not like I _live_ here, Gally. I have to stumble around and find stuff just like you do," the younger retorted, moving around to look over the rock face. Nothing was really sticking out as odd or even giving off the vibes that last sanctuary did. Everything looked... ordinary. Boring.

"Do you think, perhaps... that maybe you were _wrong_ about your presumption earlier?" Galvatron asked impatiently.

"No," Hot Rod replied firmly. "There's something noteworthy here, otherwise it wouldn't have been mapped in a worship building. I just... need..." He trailed off and looked down at himself. Something Galvatron couldn't see attracted the bot's attention. He reached for this something, then touched the rock face in a certain spot. This caused the spot in the rock face to glow, then there was a flash of bright light and then a long flight of steps that led up to above the treetops appeared before Galvatron. Hot Rod appeared proud of himself. "See? I just needed to use the glyph. I guess it was a keystone."

Galvatron looked up toward the canopy that covered the sky, then began the ascent when the Autobot had joined his side. When they emerged, it was clear to see a very _large_ bowl-shaped rock formation was seemingly supported high in the air with the aid of a small pillar of rock, the base of which was where Hot Rod had placed the glyph. "How is that staying up?!" The Decepticon yelled. "It's defying the laws of physics! And you can't tell me it's suspended in time, because it looks like it's being held steady enough that there's no wear on the pillar!"

The younger bot simply shrugged. "This planet probably has a lot of things going on with it that we shouldn't question."

"Bah!"

Upon reaching the top of the steps, the sight that greeted them was the same as it was in the oasis. Beautiful scenery and colors, plants and animals all around a large pink and green lake. This lake had what appeared to be a wooden shrine in the middle of it. The animals turned when they approached and eyed them warily.

Galvatron stopped and turned his head to the younger bot. "Perhaps you should let them know we are not their enemies."

The Autobot raised an optic ridge at him briefly, but nodded his agreement and stepped ahead a few paces before kneeling and looking around at the creatures. "Hi. I'm Hot Rod. Is someone here in charge of running the place?"

He received no answer.

"We're not here to hurt anyone. We were just wondering if we could use your lake." He pointed a digit at the restoration pool. "We've kinda been traveling all day and we're pretty tired. It's okay if you don't want us to, though."

"No, it's not."

"Shush, Gal."

Slowly, a large creature that looked like a very spiky leaf with a pair of arms and legs padded over and cautiously examined the red and orange Autobot. It jumped slightly when the bot moved a servo to sit in front of it, palm up, but recovered and took hold of the servo to examine it as well. Once it seemed mostly satisfied that he meant no harm, it turned its attention to Galvatron and eyed his fusion cannon.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about him," Hot Rod assured. "He won't cause any problems, I promise. I'll make sure of it."

Galvatron's scoff was met with an exasperated expression coming from the Autobot.

The leaf monster didn't move for a minute, then it huffed and took a step back, nodding to the lake.

"Thank you _very_ much," Hot Rod smiled as he gradually got to his peds so as to not startle the other animals. "We'll be sure to be courteous guests."

The leaf monster gave him what looked to be an expression that said, "You better. We'll be watching you," before it turned back to the other animals and rumbled at them. The creatures slowly returned to what they were doing before, but continued to watch the transformers.

The two proceeded to walk toward the lake and sit down within the shallows, their peds mostly covered by the liquid.

Hot Rod drew in a deep intake, then released it. "Well... Today was a rollercoaster..."

Galvatron threw him a confused squint. "A what?"

"It's... something humans ride on to get a thrill. It moves around at a fast pace and the track it sits on guides it to go through all sorts of crazy motions," the other explained. "Daniel showed me a few once. I think he wanted me to ride with him but there was no way with my size."

"Ah. So you are saying today was crazy with the way events played out," the Decepticon put together.

The younger bot nodded. "Exactly."

"Sounds like the delicate princess needs a stasis nap."

Hot Rod grinned broadly at him. "You know what, I think you're right. Will you be watching over me while I do?"

Galvatron sighed. "No. I'm not going to watch you sleep like some creep."

"Aww, you're no fun," the Autobot teased as he shifted to lay down in the water.

"Just power down," the other ordered. He watched as Hot Rod got himself settled and tried to power down for stasis. His optics never dimmed, however. Galvatron squinted and watched quietly as Hot Rod continued to lay there, still not powering down. "What are you waiting for?"

"I'm not waiting for anything," the Autobot sighed. "I can't get my system to shut down."

The Decepticon groaned.

"I'm sorry, Gal. I don't know what to do about this."

Galvatron had an idea. He didn't really want to do it, but it was better than this idiot staying up and not charging properly. "Sit up," he ordered again. This earned him a raised optic ridge, but the Autobot did as he was told. The leader then shifted to sit behind him, waist deep in the water, then raised his servos to Hot Rod's backplate. He let his digits gently touch the plating located around his back, shoulders, and neck, stimulating the nervecircuits within. The response was almost immediate.

Hot Rod let out a soft moan of comfort and relaxed. "Wow, Gal... That feels _amazing_... Where did you--"

"Just shut up and enjoy it," the Decepticon leader grunted. To which the Autobot seemed to happily obey. He slowly began to slump forward as the massage continued, until finally he stopped moving on his own. Galvatron leaned forward to check his optics. Out like a light. Good. The older bot carefully braced Hot Rod as he moved out from behind the Autobot, then slowly laid him down to rest in stasis. He watched the young bot for a bit, then sighed and laid down beside him. Galvatron would likely have to do this more often if they stayed much longer. ...Eh. Maybe that wasn't such a degrading thing. He could deal with it at the very least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just gonna sneak this small massage in here. *shoves Galvatron in Hot Rod's direction*
> 
> Thank you all so much for your comments of support! I very much appreciate reading about what sticks out to you in the story thus far! Heck, even if this isn't something you ship, I'm thankful you took the time to read. :)


	9. X Marks the Bot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Hot Rod doesn't listen and Ultra Magnus is awkward.

For a week they had been stuck on that planet, Hot Rod guessed. It certainly felt like longer than that, but when he had asked Galvatron his thoughts, the bot simply shrugged and guessed five solar-cycles. That couldn't have been right, though, the Autobot was sure of it. Disregarding the length of time, the two had gotten a lot of exploration done within that timeframe, finding hidden oasis after hidden oasis.

Whenever they hunkered down at a spot to recharge, they'd take the time to talk with one another about their past experiences and sometimes look back fondly at certain moments they enjoyed during the war. After all, it wasn't _all_ doom and gloom. Galvatron shared that sometimes Thundercracker would write out plays for the other Decepticons and himself to perform. They were all stupid and ended up with the blue Seeker as the lead star, but it made the group laugh or forget about the war for a bit, so Megatron didn't see the harm in permitting the plays.

Hot Rod admitted to rallying some of the more relaxed bots on the Autobot team, such as Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, to join him in prank runs every now and again. One of the more successful runs was a time when they had slipped some human socks over Ultra Magnus' audio receptor spikes while he had been in stasis. When the bot had woken, he hadn't noticed anything and went about his business. Hot Rod and the brothers had followed him at a distance with broad grins on their faceplates while Ultra Magnus unknowingly drew the attention of the bots he had passed, making them stop to chuckle. It wasn't until he had entered a meeting with Optimus, Prowl, Jazz, Kup, and Springer that it had been brought to his attention. To say the stiff Autobot had been highly embarrassed would have been an understatement.

The red and orange bot had felt his spark swell with joy when Galvatron had guffawed at the story. He wasn't sure how to explain why Galvatron's amusement made him happy. In fact, he wasn't entirely sure why he felt happy whenever the tyrant paid him small compliments or recognized he was doing a good job. He hadn't realized he'd wanted the Decepticon to validate him before. Hot Rod supposed it had something to do with his desire for them to be friends.

It certainly felt like they were friends now. The signs all pointed to it. They were enjoying each other's company, they were sharing personal things about themselves, they performed small acts of kindness for each other--even if Galvatron denied he was doing it. Exactly the sort of things friends did. They just hadn't verbally confirmed it. Did they need to? Probably not. This was fine as was. Hot Rod preferred to leave it non-verbal rather than hear Galvatron deny the possibility of their relationship being a thing again. Maybe he would try again at some point later.

The two were currently in a desert, making their way toward a mark that Hot Rod recalled being on the map and was curious about. Having found plenty of hidden oases, they figured they should try their luck at finding another way off the planet. As they traveled along toward what Hot Rod assumed was another place of worship that he recalled being on the map, the young Autobot spotted a formation that caught his interest. He shifted course, the time-frozen sand beneath his tires allowing him to do so without any restraint.

"Why the abrupt turn?" Galvatron called from above. "Were you leading us the wrong way this whole time?"

"No, no," Hot Rod assured. "That stonework sticking out of the dunes over there. Don't they look out of place?" He caught the Decepticon through his rearview mirror, squinting ahead to see what the youth was talking about.

"It does, doesn't it?"

"I want to check it out real quick."

"It would be a better use of energy to simply keep to our current objective," the Decepticon leader denied.

"C'mon, Gally! Our objective is to find a way back to Cybertron! Maybe there's something inside."

There was a pause, then a reluctant sigh. "We will not dwell long," he relented.

Hot Rod grinned. It had been so easy to get Galvatron to try things his way recently. Another benefit to being friends, he assumed. He stopped and transformed when they reached what appeared to be the entrance. It was large and immaculately decorated... and had a semi-big X across it! Score! If there was one thing he learned while playing pirate games with Daniel, it was that X always meant treasure or precious things! The bot started to reach for the door, only to stop when Galvatron landed and shouted at him.

"Don't touch that!"

The Autobot turned to him. "What?"

"Forget your little side trip!" He simply snapped. "We're moving on!" He proceeded to take off again.

Hot Rod scoffed and shot him an annoyed look. "Uh, no. I'm going in." Before Galvatron could round on him and continue barking commands, the Autobot pressed forward and heaved the doors open. They were heavier than he expected, but nothing unreasonable. Once open, he walked straight in, only pausing and glancing back when the leader landed again and rushed in after him.

"Fool!! Do you have a death wish?!" Galvatron hissed.

The Autobot rolled his optics and continued forward. Everything seemed fine. It was dark, but overall the place looked like another temple. This one lacked illustrations and plaques, however, and instead had crates and barrels full of, the Autobot assumed, food and such the missing race may have put in there. "Look, I dunno what's got you so riled up, okay? You need to use your words and communicate better. All I saw was a door with an X across it."

"What is your malfunction?! That was exactly the problem!" The red and orange bot jerked to a halt as Galvatron reached out and grabbed onto his servo tightly to keep him from going further. "Get out! Now!"

Hot Rod struggled against him. "No! You don't know if there's a way home in here!"

"If there is, I don't want to take it!"

"Oh, _now_ you don't want to go home?!"

"Shut up, that's not what I mean!"

The Autobot managed to shove himself free of Galvatron's grip and in doing so also stumbled backwards and fell onto a stack of crates, breaking them open underneath him. Unbeknownst to him, the back of one of his fins got punctured due to a sharp object within one of said crates. Before he had a chance to push himself to his peds, he grunted as the Decepticon leader picked him up roughly, tucked him underneath one of his arms, and stormed out with him. "Hey! I'm not some protoform!" Hot Rod protested.

This earned him an angry fist to the back of his head just before the larger bot took to the air, Autobot still under arm. "Useless half-clocked dirtkicker!" The leader swore at him. "That large X is the plague symbol in a trillion different languages!"

The Autobot had been tempted to hit back, but the urge died when Galvatron finally revealed why he had flipped out. "You didn't have to hit me over it..." he muttered with a sullen pout, rubbing the spot where he had been struck.

"I do not tolerate insubordination! You're lucky I didn't pause to blast your arm out of commission like I would any disobedient Decepticon!" Galvatron snapped.

"I'm not one of your soldiers!" Hot Rod retorted.

"Remind me again, which one of us suggested helping each other out and said he would _listen_ to the more experienced leader after nearly getting himself disabled?!"

The counter-argument made Hot Rod heat up a few degrees as he struggled to come up with a response to win this for him. His processor gave him nothing to work with and so Hot Rod was forced to give Galvatron the victory. Not verbally, of course. He wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.

For a while they traveled like this in frustrated silence. While he supposed he deserved to be punished for not listening to Galvatron, he still believed the punch had been a bit extreme. The Autobot supposed he'd have to work with him on finding new nonviolent ways to express his anger. The Decepticon suddenly broke the silence, clearly still fuming.

"If you would not behave this way for Optimus, do not behave in this way for me! Who knows what you've done by breaking that seal?! You could have unleashed the plague labeled to be behind those doors!"

Hot Rod's mood almost got worse until a sudden realization struck him. Or rather a theory. He had to test to make sure that was the case, however. "I'm sorry, Galvatron. You're right, I should have listened. I don't know what came over me."

The tyrant's mood shifted from highly irritated to grumpy. "Don't do it again. Do you feel strange?"

There it was. And with that newfound insight, Hot Rod's mood eased up. "No, I feel fine. Sorry that I worried you."

The Decepticon scoffed. "I wasn't worried! I'll drop you if you don't shut up!"

"You wouldn't. You like me too--" The Autobot's sentence cut off with a yelp as the arm around him suddenly left, leaving him flailing as he fell to the ground below. "Gal!" For a few moments he thought the Decepticon would let him just collide with the ground, but just before he hit the ground he jolted to a stop as a pair of servos gripped his sides. The smaller bot looked up at him with narrowed optics. "Mother of Primus, what is your problem?!"

The Decepticon leader was grinning smugly down at him. "You're my problem." The grin faded. "For once I'm _not_ actively trying to kill you, Hot Rod. It's in both our best interests to keep each other online. You said so yourself at the beginning of this venture. So listen to me and use your processor for what it's supposed to do."

Hot Rod knew this was supposed to be serious, but he absolutely _couldn't_ resist. "And what is it supposed to do, may I ask?"

Galvatron stared down at him with a straight face and said, "Convince you that I am the best leader you will ever have and worship me to no end."

Hot Rod had never laughed so hard in his life. He didn't care that the Decepticon dropped him again so he landed on the hard sand. He simply rolled over onto his back and continued laughing, clutching his middle.

He heard Galvatron scoff and land next to him. "No shred of dignity within you whatsoever. It was not that funny. Alpha Trion's sake, it wasn't even a full-fledged joke." He waited a few moments for the giddy bot to calm down. When he didn't, the Decepticon added, "Stop laughing."

Hot Rod did his best to calm his laughter and managed to get it down to small fits of giggles. "You are... absolutely amazing, Galvatron~"

"I suppose that's a start," the other said, trying to pass off a convincing look of aloofness.

The Autobot knew better. He got to his peds and gave Galvatron a light nudge with his elbow. To which the Decepticon leader responded by merely meeting his gaze with a resting scowl for a second, then giving him a small smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ultra Magnus sat at his desk in his quarters, a document pad in one servo and a stylus in the other. He stared down at the report intensely, yet never read one word of it. A week and a half had passed since the Autobots came back from a small bout they had with the Decepticons. Almost everyone that had been present for that fight had been in a panic in one way or another when they returned. When Ultra Magnus had managed to find someone calm enough to make sense, he had received the news that Hot Rod and Galvatron had suddenly disappeared after wrestling over a small unknown device.

Optimus Prime had set Spike and the Technobots to work on finding them as soon as possible and tried to assure and console those closest to Hot Rod as best he could. As time passed, things returned to a calmer state as most everyone tried to buckle down and focus on their duties, placing their trust in their scientifically innate friends. They had made _some_ progress. That was what the report in Magnus' servos was about. But whenever the bot tried to read it, his imagination ran wild about where Hot Rod could be or what he could be enduring under the cruel grip of Galvatron.

His audio receptors nearly missed the sound of a small knock at his door. Magnus checked the clock. It was late enough in the night that most bots were asleep. With a sigh of defeat, he set down the unread report and got up to see who his guest was. The door slid open to reveal a downhearted Arcee just behind it. "Arcee. I'm surprised to see you up," he stated. "What seems to be the issue?"

Arcee looked up at him. "I'm sorry, Magnus. I wasn't thinking about the time. Did I wake you?"

It was clear to Ultra Magnus that whatever she was upset about wasn't just something like a spat with Springer. "No, I haven't had the chance to go into stasis yet," he assured her. "Would you like to come in?"

The fembot hesitated. "Yes please..." She entered when the large bot stepped aside for her, and took a seat by the small table not far from his desk. "Thank you..."

"Certainly." Ultra Magnus shut the door once more, then seated himself at his desk again, turning the chair to face her. "Is there something you wish to discuss?" The pink bot was silent for a moment, likely working to get her thoughts in order. Magnus waited patiently until she was ready and broke the silence.

"I saw Daniel to bed tonight," she started slowly, her voice box crackling slightly. "He's so miserable knowing Hot Rod is missing..."

This news didn't come as a surprise to the larger bot. The two of them had grown close since the time Hot Rod had been assigned to be Daniel's personal guard. It only made sense that the little boy would be as upset as he was, not knowing what had become of his best friend. And of course this meant Arcee was greatly affected by this. While she didn't have as close a relationship with Hot Rod, she still respected him and enjoyed his presence. On top of that, she was like a second mother to Daniel. Seeing him in such a state was like taking a small blow to the spark to her.

Arcee pulled Ultra Magnus out of his thoughts. "Magnus... What if he's offline...?"

Oh no... She was starting to cry. He could see the coolant rising underneath her optics. Ultra Magnus stiffened and tried to recall if there was any protocol to be followed for crying soldiers. How in Alpha Trion's name was he going to keep this from happening? He decided to just do what he did best. Explain the statistics. "I think we should give Hot Rod more credit than that," he started carefully. "While I can't blindly ignore the possibility, I think he can take care of himself enough to know how to keep himself charged, healthy, and online despite what Galvatron throws at him."

"But what if the Decepticons found them before we have...?"

"It was just Cyclonus and the Sweeps that took off in search. They don't have a way of tracking Galvatron and space is a huge, ever-expanding void with millions of stars and planets scattered abroad. I think their chances of finding the two of them before us is _much_ lower than you think."

The fembot nodded and turned her gaze to the table, staring absently at it as she wiped away at the coolant leaking down her faceplate. "Of course... You're right, I shouldn't worry so much..."

Ultra Magnus knew better than to believe that was the end of that. He watched her quietly for a few seconds, looking for a new course of action to take to relieve her of her stress, then his optics dropped down to the report laying on his desk. He slowly took it and held it out to her, earning him a look of confusion. "It's the Technobots' report," he clarified. "I... haven't been able to bring myself to read it. Perhaps you will have better luck."

Arcee widened her optics and gently took the report pad from him, immediately turning her attention to it and seeming to have a much easier time reading it than he had. When she reached the end of the report, a relieved sob of a breath left her mouth and more coolant escaped her optics. "He's alive! They were able to trace his spark!" The report was dropped on the table beside her and she proceeded to laugh despite her tears. "This is great news!" And then the laughter stopped and she began full-blown sobbing.

Ultra Magnus shifted uncomfortably, her dramatic shift of emotions confusing him greatly. How in Primus' name was he supposed to handle this in a matter that didn't make things worse? Oh how he wished he had Optimus' finesse with understanding others and their thought processes. Cautiously, he got to his peds and took a few steps so he was standing in front of her, then gave her shoulder a couple awkward pats. He was nearly startled when she got up and hugged him, burying her faceplate against his chestplate. Gingerly, he returned the embrace, only doing so because he assumed it was the right thing to do in this situation.

It seemed to be so, because soon Arcee's sobbing calmed to sniffling and she let go of him to meet his gaze and smile. "They're working on a way to bring him home now. Thank you, Ultra Magnus."

The bot shook his head. "I did nothing. You should be thanking the Technobots and Spike."

"You heard my worries and did what you could," the fembot replied. "I appreciate that." She wiped away the residual coolant again, then walked over to the door. She turned back as it slid open. "Try to rest."

The large bot simply smiled and nodded, and watched her leave the room, the door sliding shut behind her. Despite his clumsiness, it seemed the mission to calm her fears was a success. Now he just needed to read the report in full for himself, and then he would attempt stasis.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoo boy, Magnus is fun to write for! I'll have to do it more often! Pay close attention to some of the smaller details in this chapter. It'll come back to bite people.
> 
> Thank you to The Princess Maker for providing the idea that I should write about what's going on back on Cybertron.


	10. Day in the City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a big city is discovered and emotions rollercoaster.

"Well... they sure knew how to build themselves a city."

The two transformers had made it to the spot Hot Rod had recalled from the map. Rather than a place of worship, they discovered a city that seemed to span for miles upon miles. The two of them were standing on a small mountain range just beyond the outskirts of it, surveying the area. If the two of them hadn't seen the rest of the planet, they could have easily mistaken this site as a spot on Cybertron.

Galvatron had to admit, it was pretty impressive compared to everything else they'd seen around. A huge dodecahedron of a building stood within the center of the city, looming over the nearby smaller buildings, but not nearly the tallest one within. Skyscrapers much taller than the dodecahedron towered over everything else, dotted here and there methodically. And near the top of the skyscrapers floated chunks of land that were all connected, providing _two_ layers to the city. There could have been a fragging under level, too, for all the transformers knew.

"I want something like this built on Cybertron," the Decepticon commented.

"I'm sure you'll have someone get to work on that the moment you conquer us," the Autobot replied offhand.

The statement brought a broad grin to the Decepticon's faceplate. "Now _that_ is the type of support and submission I deserve! You're learning!"

The Autobot shot him an amused smirk and tapped the side of his head. "I may have thick plating, but the mighty Galvatron and my knight in shining plating deserves the absolute best. After all, he's said it often enough, so it _must_ be true."

"Slag straight, you tinfoil turkey."

Hot Rod clicked his glossa and wagged his optic ridges at the Decepticon playfully before turning his gaze back to the city. "Imagine what this place must have looked like back when the civilization was still around. The night life must have been incredible. Streets semi-empty but still bustling with night owls, party goers having the night of their lives, dazzling lights, and maybe even a bit of crime on the side in the dark where the light can't reach."

Galvatron had to admit, the bot sure knew how to paint a verbal picture. He was starting to see the image the younger bot planted. It looked... ideal. Replace the people with Cybertronians and the picture would be perfect. Well, mostly perfect. It was missing a statue of himself for those passing to worship, but he simply imagined it would be in that large dodecahedron and let it slide. This was what he wanted to rule over. Cybertron in its glory days. It was high time the planet was rebuilt into something suitable for its station. At the moment the transformers' planet was a war zone. A wreck. Not ideal for ruling over and _certainly_ not the type of home the most superior race in the galaxy deserved.

The war had to end soon.

The leader's thought processes were abruptly and rudely interrupted by loud whooping and laughing. When he looked around, it became apparent to him that Hot Rod had taken off without him. "Hot Rod?" The Decepticon's optics zeroed in on the young bot, who was now braced and skidding down the mountainside at a great speed. Galvatron growled and took to the air to chase after him. "Are you trying to land yourself in the scrapheap?"

"It's called 'fun', Gally! C'mon, you should try it!" The Autobot called back to him with glee, a broad smile on his faceplate.

The leader tamped down the urge to return the smile with one of his own. "I'll pass. You keep your fun."

For a moment, Galvatron wasn't sure if the small wrist flick Hot Rod did was in response to him, but during the flick the Autobot had replied, "All the more for me!" so the Decepticon assumed it had been on purpose. When they reached the bottom, Hot Rod slid to a stop a few feet away from the base of the mountain then turned to Galvatron, still full of mirth. "Seriously, Gally! Try that with me next time! Surfing down a steep incline is a heck of a time!"

The Decepticon rolled his optics and landed beside him. "Will it get you to shut up?"

"Nnnope!" The other snickered, causing the leader to groan.

"I should have known it was futile to even suggest it," he grumbled. "Once. I will only do it _once_. And it will not be until we come across another incline. We're not going back up where we came from."

The Autobot was far too giddy for his own good. The bot laughed and nudged elbows with Galvatron before latching a servo onto the larger bot's forearm and pulling him along at a jog. This behavior was seriously confusing the Decepticon in tow. He opened his mouth to bring up a question, but it died when his optics fell upon the back of Hot Rod's fin. Somehow it had been pierced through in a small area. He squinted at it. When did he have time to get that?

"You have a hole in your fin," the Decepticon pointed out.

The Autobot pulling him along didn't stop. He didn't even lose his cheery disposition. "Do I? Ah well. Must've got it when you dropped me."

What in Primus' name? "After the fuss you made over the possibility of your _tire_ getting a hole, how can you be fine with a hole on your person somewhere else?"

"The lake can fix it no problem, Gal, trust me! Don't worry about it!"

"Where is all this cheer coming from?"

Hot Rod finally stopped and looked back at him, but didn't let go of his arm. The pleased smile had turned gentle and warm. "There's no war we're caught up in, there's a city we can have a great time exploring, and I get to have all this excitement with my friend. There's no point getting all angsty over things I can't control like Ultra Magnus does, so why bother?"

Galvatron stared at him. 'Friend,' Hot Rod had just said. He meant him. The Decepticon stuck with him. Blast it, he had told Hot Rod not to get attached and he went and did so anyway. This sap was going to get himself killed with that mentality. ...Though for some reason... "Say that again."

The Autobot tilted his head a bit. "Which part?"

"What you called me," the larger bot clarified. "Say it again."

The leader made out a glimmer of hope crossing Hot Rod's optics as the red and orange bot repeated himself. "I'm with my friend."

Galvatron felt his spark warm and churn. This should be something the leader viewed as unacceptable. He should have slapped the Autobot and laughed at the mere notion. ...But he didn't want to. The two of them stared at each other intently as Galvatron tried to find an appropriate way to respond to this declaration of their status. He started by breaking their optic-contact and settling his line-of-sight off to the side, not really looking at anything in particular. "Idiot." He muttered. "I told you--"

"I don't care what you told me," Hot Rod cut in curtly, startling Galvatron a smidge. "Authority overruled. You're my friend and that's that."

Did he just... That insufferable little--! "You don't get to declare that!"

The Autobot finally let go and folded his arms, looking smug. "Oh yeah?"

"Yes! I'm the leader of the two of us and I get to declare our status!" he insisted.

"Then declare it. I dare you," the younger bot challenged. "You won't, coward."

Galvatron seethed with mild fury at the sheer _gall_ Hot Rod had to say such things to him. He stamped his ped once, then gripped the Autobot's shoulders tightly as he shouted, "I, Galvatron, leader of the Decepticons and future leader of Cybertron, declare that I and the Autobot designated as Hot Rod are friends! Anyone who has complaints can mouth off to my fusion cannon!" The leader stared intensely into Hot Rod's optics for a bit as the young bot tried to keep a straight face, then caved and burst into laughter. "What are you laughing at?!"

"You didn't have to phrase it like that~!" The other cackled. "I thought you were just going to say, 'Yeah, we're friends!'"

"Shut up!" Galvatron snapped, shoving Hot Rod away and storming off into the city. _This_ type of treatment was absolutely infuriating! Why did the Autobot find it so fun to mock him like this?! He did what the bot wanted and now he was being laughed at! What the frag?!

Hot Rod managed to keep his footing and scurried after the tyrant with a broad grin. "Gally. Gally, I'm sorry."

"No you're not!"

"Okay," he admitted. "No, I'm not sorry. But," he added after the Decepticon scoffed, "I'm glad you said it. I really am. Your 'official announcement' means a lot to me. This means we'll try to make it work even after we go back, right? We can still see each other and talk and hang out?" Hot Rod had latched onto the tyrant's arm again and was trotting by his side to keep up with the other's long strides. He looked so... hopeful. And for the first time in the history of _ever_ , Galvatron didn't have the desire to crush that hope.

Galvatron heaved a heavy puff of air and grumpily replied, "I suppose..."

The younger bot's smile grew to one of excitement. "Who's the best bot ever, Gal?"

What sort of a question was that? "I am, obviously!"

He received a pat on his forearm before it was released. "Yes, you are. So! City stroll or cruise?"

"I do not have _wheels_ , moron."

It was mildly fascinating to Galvatron that Hot Rod just kept shrugging off his insults and not taking them personally. Any Decepticon would take whatever Galvatron said as a blow to their egos and pride, but this dope kept acting like the insults never happened. "We continue as we are, then," he replied calmly, twitching his servo ever-so-slightly again.

The tyrant furrowed his optic ridges lower at the gesture, but soon flicked his gaze back to the streets and said, "Now, keep in mind that the possibility is always present that there will be more monsters here. If they are around, they are hiding and plotting their next move or actively avoiding us. We need to remain near each other within a certain distance _and_ within sight, and we need to keep our wits about us. Understood?"

"Got it, boss."

Galvatron stopped his walking and jabbed Hot Rod's chestplate with a firm digit. " _And_ you will _not_ pull any stunts like you did in the desert! If I sense _any_ sort of disobedience coming from you when I give an order, you _will_ be punished! Got that?"

The Autobot met his scowl with an expression that said he was being serious in that moment. "Read you loud and clear."

"Good." The Decepticon resumed their trek.

"Hey, if this is a city, think they've got a huge mall here?"

Galvatron squinted at the other with confusion. "A... mall?"

Hot Rod had regained his cheerful disposition. "Yeah! It's a huge building that has a bunch of smaller stores in it and people go there for fun. It's really popular in the human culture and a common place to find friends and junxies hanging out at."

What an odd custom to have. Frankly, it sounded pointless. Stupid, even.

"Sometimes... the really big malls will have stuff like weapon stores," the red and orange bot added nonchalantly, his lips forming a tight grin as if he knew a secret and wasn't telling.

This information got Galvatron's attention. Weapons stores. Something _useful_. A brief flash of glowing yellow was caught in the corner of his optics, making him turn and fire his fusion cannon a couple times in the direction he saw it. The one blast blew open a chunk of wall on a building and the other went through the new opening for good measure. A squeal was heard and as soon as the debris settled the body of an animal could be made out.

"That could have been one of the good ones, you know," the Autobot stated with a frown.

"If we do not see them at an oasis, then we cannot take any chances," the Decepticon leader dismissed.

A small sigh escaped the younger bot and there was a brief silence before he started up again. "So about the mall--"

"Primus almighty!" Galvatron exclaimed with exasperation. "Forget the stupid custom and focus on the task at servo! We are not here to sightsee! You flap your faceplate more than Misfire!"

Hot Rod raised his arms a tad. "Okay, okay! Yeesh! I'll shut up." And shut up he did, blessedly. Now that the youth had stopped making unnecessary chitchat, the sounds of the creatures within the city were much easier to make out.

The two bots were able to traverse the streets without much trouble, avoiding fighting unless it was necessary. It was at that moment Galvatron realized just how much he missed his old Communications Officer and the convenience he and his cassettes brought. He had lost track of where Soundwave wound up after a while and didn't think he needed him. But it was in a place like this that it would have been really handy to have the tape deck and his cassettes along. Galvatron made a note to seek him out later.

As they went along, the tyrant began to notice something unusual about the Autobot traveling with him. With each encounter they had with the creatures they couldn't avoid, Hot Rod became more and more apparently aggressive. The first few fights he had stuck with using just his blaster, but after that he began charging forward to meet the creatures head on, delivering strong punches and kicks, wrestling with them, even heaving them over his head to throw them. If Galvatron didn't know the Autobot as well as he did, he would have just chalked it up to courage finally kicking in.

But that wasn't it and Galvatron couldn't rightly explain what it was that was causing the change in fighting style. That said, it was doing no harm. In fact, it was making fights go by quicker, so who was Galvatron to ask in the midst of it? He really should have, actually, because the minute the most recent bout ended, Hot Rod took off.

"Where are you going?" The Decepticon called after him. Upon receiving no answer, he groaned and muttered a dark, "Slag..." before taking off after him. Galvatron watched as the Autobot ahead of him zeroed in on a couple monsters and set upon them violently. The leader slowed to a halt a good distance away so as to not get caught up in the fighting and simply observe.

Hot Rod was not only holding his own impressively, he was also _brutalizing_ the poor creatures he had jumped. It was almost fascinating seeing the bot who tried to tell Galvatron to consider them innocent now treating them as a most hated enemy. Fascinating... and a bit concerning. This was most definitely _not_ Hot Rod behavior. This was Galvatron behavior. Galvatron behavior before this trip calmed his mind. Something was _wrong_.

Deciding he had seen enough, he cautiously approached the smaller bot, who was now pummeling the corpse of one of the creatures. "Hot Rod." No response. He got close enough to be in hitting range and prepared himself. "Hot Rod." The youth whipped around, dropping the body and throwing a punch at him simultaneously. The leader reacted just as quickly and caught the punch with one servo, then with his other as another was thrown. He grit his denta and wrestled with him for a bit, staring straight into a faceplate that expressed blind rage. The red and orange bot was unnaturally high in temperature, as well. Not only was he heating up Galvatron's servos rather quickly, but he was also emitting steam from underneath his plating. "Hot Rod! Blast you, get a hold of yourself! I order you!" With that, Galvatron shoved one of Hot Rod's fists away, then planted his own in the side of the Autobot's head.

That seemed to get a better reaction. The bot staggered a bit but still stayed upright, one fist still in the Decepticon's grasp. His expression eased up gradually to one of confusion, and then he stopped pushing against his temporary leader. He let his gaze fall to their gripped servos. "Did..." He paused and shifted his optics to look straight into the larger bot's. "Did I just... attack you?"

Galvatron let go and gave him a grim look. "You did more than just attack me," he grunted, gesturing to the pulverized monsters on the ground.

Hot Rod looked to them and widened his optics. He brought a servo to his mouth, mortified that he would do such a thing.

"It was rather gruesome. Something I would expect of my Decepticons... but not of you."

"Y...Yeah, I... If you don't mind, I'm just gonna..." The smaller bot pointed in a direction without looking, "go over there and be sick..." Without waiting for permission, the Autobot bolted in the direction he pointed at, then dropped to his servos and knees before he could make it very far and spat up some energon.

Galvatron sighed and walked over to him. Primus, he was such a mess. "What happened?"

The Autobot spat out some residual energon, then sat back on his legs, refusing to look up. "I'm not sure... We were going along, battling here and there... then I felt myself heating up and getting really angry... and I couldn't think. Then... Then my vision went dark. I couldn't see what was going on, but I could feel what I was doing. And I was still angry." His servo twitched.

The Decepticon leader narrowed his optics, piecing together the information and facts given. "Blast! Of course! You picked up whatever plague was behind those doors! And I'll bet the point of entry was right here!" He jabbed a digit near the hole in Hot Rod's fin, making him wince.

"Ow... Gal, gimme a break..."

The tyrant snarled. How could this bot be so careless?! So stupid?! But now wasn't the time to rant at him. For now, they needed to get to a lake. "Stand up. We need to get you to the water. Perhaps its magical qualities can heal you of this poison."

Hot Rod pushed himself to his peds and followed the Decepticon onward. He was silent. It was absolutely infuriating. This whole inconvenient situation could have been prevented if that stupid youth had listened to him. They spent hours wandering that great and spacious city, hardly saying a word and looking for anything significant that could provide information or healing water. The search was only made longer by the Autobot's body overheating every now and again to the point that they would have to pause and wait within a sheltered space until he cooled down enough for him to function properly again.

The dodecahedron building within the center of the city, they found out, served as a city hub of sorts. Subway systems laid in the basement, connecting the center to the rest of the city through snaking tunnels. Giant monitors sat against the walls of the main floor that were paused mid-picture, presenting weather forecasts, maps of the continent, news reports, and other such things. Signs hung from the ceiling, telling where services were located. Oh, look at that. A mall appeared to be within the subway system according to one of the signs. Offices were located on the floor above the main one. And of _course_ luxury apartments were located at the very top floor. They didn't have time to go through all the floors and explore.

"There's another huge continent," Hot Rod suddenly uttered so quietly Galvatron almost missed it. He pointed to one of the maps on the screens. "Right there. We're close to the ocean. Next town over's a port town."

"If we need that later, we will come back to it," Galvatron decided. "Let's do a scan of the upper district outside."

The search took another several hours, one of which was spent just looking for the darn way up until Galvatron grew fed up and flew them both up himself. He was able to ignore the near searing heat that was being emitted from Hot Rod's body, despite it pressing up against him. The upper district, while cool to look at, had nothing much of value. That wasn't to say they didn't find a lake. They did. It was just...

"Of all the places we had to chose to search, _why_ did it have to be the _giant_ city with a _dried up_ lake?!" Galvatron shouted furiously, staring at a spot where there was _supposed_ to be a lake, but now there was nothing but dirt and dead animals within the empty reservoir.

Hot Rod rubbed his forehead with a couple weary digits. "I dunno, Gal," he sighed. "I'm sorry this was a bust."

The Decepticon didn't care for sorries right now. This waste of effort and time pissed him off and he was going to say _exactly_ how he felt about it. "We spent so much time here! And for what?! We got no useful information, _you_ have a plague, and we cannot recharge our lost energy!"

"We just have to go back to a different lake, Gal. It's not that big a deal," the Autobot pointed out.

"You have a _skewed_ perception of what is not a 'big deal' and what is! And besides that, you have a lot of nerve to have that take on the situation when you are the one that got us in this mess to begin with!"

Hot Rod scowled at him. "This is _my_ fault?!" He shouted back. "Look, Galvatron, we are _not_ playing the blame game here! The only thing that's my fault is getting this spark-forsaken plague! We're exploring! How was I supposed to know this place had nothing to offer?!"

"You must have failed to read _something_ that would have clued us in to the fact!"

"This is a post-apocalyptic world! I doubt there would have been anything to tell us about something like this!"

This was _not_ how this was supposed to work. Someone had failed in some manner. Else they would have gained something from this journey. It certainly wasn't Galvatron's fault, so the only other person who could have been at fault was Hot Rod! And yet here he was back-talking him and saying no one was at fault! The Decepticon gritted his denta and clenched his digits tightly before he turned to the dried up lake and fired a blast at one of the corpses within with an angry scream. Once he had released that bit of pent up steam, he turned back to Hot Rod. "We're returning to the nearest lake..." he ordered with an eerily quiet tone that would normally send shivers down the nervecircuits of his followers.

"Sounds good," was all Hot Rod said, meeting the angry glare he was receiving. With that he turned and ran to the nearest drop off, then leapt off, plummeting to the ground level of the city.

Galvatron shouted and hurriedly flew after him, catching him before the crazy Autobot could get very far down. "What is your malfunction?!" He yelled.

"What the frag?!" The other shouted back. "I would have been _fine_!"

"That drop is several times larger than the chasm you nearly fell into at the start! You would have met your demise!" This plague didn't seem to be physically dangerous to the young bot yet, but it was clear he would be a danger to himself in this state and he didn't even know it.

"You don't know that! I've survived worse!" Hot Rod countered.

"Just shut up!" Galvatron snapped harshly. "I am in charge of getting us places until you are healed! Understood?!" He received a dirty glare as the Autobot crossed his arms. "Well?!" Hot Rod huffed and stuck out his glossa, then looked away. Boy, did Galvatron have the worst possible urge to simply let go of him and be done with it. Or better yet, punt that bot fragger so hard he'd reach the next sector! But he didn't.

When they reached the previous lake they had rested at, the Decepticon set the Autobot down roughly and promptly made a bee-line for the farthest spot in the lake he could be from Hot Rod. It was midway there that he stopped and glanced back when he heard Hot Rod say something out of protest.

The animals that led this particular pack had stepped in front of him, barring his way to the magical water.

"Come on, I need to recharge! You let _him_ go!" Hot Rod snapped, pointing at Galvatron.

The animals stood their ground, one of them shaking their head.

"You let me in a couple days ago! What gives?!"

Their sudden change in behavior... letting Galvatron in but not the Autobot... "Hot Rod, they can likely sense the plague you carry," he guessed.

Hot Rod threw his gaze from the animals, to Galvatron, then back to them. "Can't the lake heal me of that?"

The second pack leader shook its head and huffed, pointing the red and orange bot to a spot away from the water. That was _not_ the news Galvatron would have preferred to receive. If the healing properties of the lakes couldn't remove the plague the youth had picked up, then what could? And if he couldn't rest in the lakes anymore, then how would he recharge?

The Autobot stared down at the creatures denying him charge, opened and closed his mouth a few times, making noises as he tried to figure out how to respond, then eventually decided on a scoff as he turned away. "Fine! I've still got plenty of charge! Who needs your lake?!"

Galvatron watched as he walked over to a sheltered spot still within sight of the lake, then settled down within it and put his back toward the others. A small pit of sympathy formed in the Decepticon's spark, however he covered it up with an irritated snort and he resumed getting settled for recharge. The stubborn bot deserved it for going and getting himself this disease. Now, their next destination... Hot Rod's report of a port town came to the front of the Decepticon's processor. They had no other leads to go on at the moment. They may as well try there next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for your patience. The family business has been keeping me plenty busy and I hit a bit of a writer's block for this. But! I do believe I've made it over the worst of the block. We shall see.
> 
> We're getting closer to the good stuff, I promise. Soooon. Like... a couple chapters more, I think. I'm down for suggestions, and please do leave feedback! How else will I learn to improve my writing?


	11. Time for Answers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Hot Rod goes off on his own to look for answers and the Technobots provide some answers.

Hot Rod was _not_ a merry man. He lay there on the cold, hard ground awake and stewing in his anger while different parts of his body twitched every so often. Stupid Galvatron. Stupid animals, not letting him recharge. Stupid him for even going in those stupid plague doors in the first fragging place! He tossed and turned, trying to find a comfortable position and wishing for sleep at the very least. However, it seemed he couldn't even get that. He groaned and turned onto his back, then slammed a fist on the ground. The anger was joined by miserable self pity. He always knew the universe was against him in one way or another, but this? This was overkill.

Were there any plus sides to this venture? Or this point in time in general? Well, he wasn't cold. Granted, being so hot your cooling systems were kicked into hyperdrive and you were steaming wasn't what most people would call a plus, but... yeah, no, Hot Rod couldn't call it a plus either. It sucked. Next. Galvatron was going out of his way to take care of him. Could that be considered a plus? He paused to think it over. Yeah. Yeah, he supposed it was. Galvatron wouldn't take the time to care for _anyone_ under normal conditions. It was still a small shock that, yet again, the Decepticon chastised him for being too reck-- Wait a minute. Since when did Galvatron become the responsible one??

When Hot Rod became the setback, that's when. He turned his head to get a look at the still figure of Galvatron, recharging in the lake water. His anger faded and was replaced with deep and pitiful longing. Boy, how he wished he were over there with him. Galvatron really knew how to tick him off, but that didn't change the fact he wanted to be by the tyrant's side. Like... Okay, maybe he didn't want to be near him while he was angry, but he had enjoyed the calming massages the Decepticon provided and the company he brought to recharging. It was lovely waking up to see the tyrant just next to him, still enjoying a bit more sleep with a peaceful expression on his faceplate. And as far as Hot Rod knew, he was the first person to even get the chance to see this side to Galvatron. He couldn't help feeling a little proud of this achievement back when he was in a better mood.

Hot Rod released a deep sigh and sat up, shifting his gaze to the ground. It was obvious he wasn't going to be sleeping anytime soon and if he was going to be alone with his thoughts, he may as well be doing something productive at the same time. He needed to get a lead on this plague to make up for the city exploration fiasco. He turned to the animals within the area, optics darting around for the leaders. When he spotted one of them he waved at it to get its attention. It didn't move toward him and just stared warily.

"Hey," Hot Rod called over to it only as loud as he dared with Galvatron asleep. "This plague that's coursing through me. Where can I learn more about it?"

It simply stared at him for a bit, then huffed and turned to another creature, a dragon-looking thing with stone-like parts to it. The leader huffed and barked lowly at it a few times. The rock dragon glanced at Hot Rod thoughtfully for a brief moment before rumbling at the leader and taking to the air.

The Autobot got to his feet. "He's going to lead me to a place?" He frowned when the lead animal shook its head and made a motion for Hot Rod to stay put. "You're kidding me! I can't just wait here when this is going through my system! I need to get it out as soon as possible! What did you send him to do?!"

The transformer gritted his teeth when the animal motioned again for him to stay. He could feel his earlier anger rising once again. "Forget it! If you're not going to help, I'll search for something myself! I'll be back for Galvatron later!" He transformed--with some difficulty, he noted--and took off in a random direction. He didn't care where, he just needed to get away from those stubborn animals so he could think. Once he was out of sight of the oasis and back in the colorless world of greys and blacks, he paused. Now where could he go to get a lead? Those temples had been helpful for locations and vague history, but that wasn't what he needed. Maybe... Maybe the place where the plague was stored would have some sort of clue to what this was. Or a cure! Yeah, it would _totally_ have a cure! That's what people do! Store antidotes nearby the problem!

With newfound confidence and determination to fix this problem he made, Hot Rod took off for the ruins in the time-frozen desert. He had nothing to fear from those ruins anymore, anyway. He was already infected. What was the worst that could happen? He get _more_ infected?

~~~~~~~

The halls were littered with the occasional Autobot that either shot him a smile or paused to greet him on his way by to meet with the Technobots. Optimus, despite the thoughts occupying his processor, greeted each of them in turn warmly. Things had mostly returned to business as usual around here. The last thing he wanted to do was bring down morale again with anything that didn't immediately concern most of the bots around. The exception, of course, being: Arcee, Kup, and Ultra Magnus.

Two weeks. It had been two weeks and Hot Rod and Galvatron were still unaccounted for. The Technobots and Spike knew Hot Rod was at least alive. That was enough to calm everyone in-the-know down a great deal. One less mystery to solve. What was odd was the Technobots claimed to have been making great headway figuring out his precise location for the first week they were set on the project. But after that, a phenomena that they could only describe as a small shatter in time and space dampened their tracing methods, slowing their progress down. But now they believed they had made enough progress to act.

Optimus sighed. He couldn't wait for this whole disaster to be over. Maybe he could snag a small break once Hot Rod was back. Have a drink or two at Maccadam's Old Oil House. That was back up and running, wasn't it? He'd have to double check with someone. Whatever it was, he definitely needed to destress. Only four days after Hot Rod had disappeared, Optimus could have sworn he had heard the youth's voice while he was talking with Arcee and Kup. Optimus paused after rounding a corner to an empty hall and rubbed his digits over his optics wearily. **'Guys, I'm here!'**

"Where is 'here', Hot Rod...?" Prime murmured. "If only you could send us a beacon of some sort..." The Autobot leader stood there in the middle of the deserted hall, mind swimming with concern for his once successor. He gradually roused himself from his slump and resumed his route to the Technobots' lab. He stopped once past their door, which slid shut behind him. "Scattershot," he greeted, looking at each Technobot as he said their names. "Strafe. Lightspeed. Afterburner. Nosecone. Report."

The Combiners directed their attention to him. Afterburner looked like he wanted to say something to be belligerent, but Nosecone beat him to it. "Optimus Prime, first and foremost, this was not an easy task."

"I'm aware," the leader replied. "And I thank you for your efforts. Considering this is a matter that must be dealt with as quickly as possible, I could think of no better bots who had the talent and capability to carry this out than you all."

That seemed to soothe the ruffled feathers. Lightspeed took up the lead. "We've been able to deduce that Hot Rod is on a far-off planet that has long been forgotten. The planet's records were difficult to dig up, but it is designated Polterrus. Does that bear any significance to you?"

Optimus hummed, donning a thoughtful expression as he crossed his arms. "Polterrus... No, I'm afraid I can't say it does. What is significant about it? Why has it been forgotten?"

Scattershot typed away at a terminal, bringing up an array of information on the big screen along with a moving model of the planet. It looked like your average planet full of water and diverse ecosystems. Perhaps more colorful than most, but still. "An interesting tale behind that one, let me tell you."

There was a pause. Prime raised an optic ridge. "Please do."

Scattershot perked up a bit with mild surprise. "Sorry, thought someone else might have liked to have picked up from there."

Afterburner rolled his optics. " _You_ said, 'let me tell you'. Get on with it."

The lead Technobot cleared his throat. "Yes, well, Polterrus was a planet that mostly kept to itself. It's recorded that it would export its rare medicines to other planets in exchange for technologies, but that's as far as the commerce went. Its native lifeforms consisted of magical creatures that lived alongside the Polterians. Harmony and one with nature and all that."

"Speaking of magic and harmony," Lightspeed interjected, "the planet is noted to be _riddled_ with magical anomalies."

"What sort of 'magical anomalies' are we talking about here?" Optimus asked.

"The kind Perceptor would have an aneurism thinking about," Strafe answered with a smirk. "Wormholes scattered about, planetary movements due to magically imbued artifacts, large land masses held up by seemingly nothing at all. You name it. It's said the magic is what made their medicines so potent. We're talking even the _water_ could heal things like wounds on living beings. It has the scientists who explored the planet baffled."

"That sounds incredible," the Autobot leader commented. "It sounds like the type of planet that the universe needs more than ever nowadays. What happened to it?"

Lightspeed, Scattershot, and Nosecone all threw each other a glance before Nosecone spoke up. "We've only been able to uncover speculation, but we've come up with a theory of our own," he said, typing away at the console. The colorful planet gradually faded to various shades of grey and ceased spinning. "Rumor has it the magic that was breathing life throughout the planet was sapped, leaving the planet dead. After merging together to run some calculations and put facts together, we've theorized that the planet isn't dead, but rather paralyzed."

"Mind you, this is speculation as well," Lightspeed picked up, "but we believe it to be an 84.7 percent possibility. We've discovered there are still wormholes littered about the planet. And it's through those that we've been able to catch glimpses of Polterrus' current state. The magic that gives it life is still there. Most of it is just dormant. Some sort of cataclysmic event must have set off a chain reaction that traumatized the planet to its very core."

Optimus donned a grim expression and lowered his arms to his sides. "That is grave news... Is there a way the planet can be revived? And what of its civilians?"

Strafe shrugged. "Hard to say. We'd have to go to the planet and figure out what caused the mess in the first place."

"And the planet's population is mostly made up of the magic animals right now," Afterburner finally spoke up. "We think there's a few clusters of Polterian civilizations, but they're small and far from each other. It's like something hunted them and whittled down their numbers."

The Autobot leader quietly rumbled his acknowledgement and shifted his gaze to the floor off to the side. This planet sounded hostile. Dangerous for two transformers to be on alone as they were. Especially with how rash Hot Rod could be and how unhinged Galvatron was. It was astonishing how such a peaceful sounding planet could make an abrupt one-eighty. A search party with capable warriors and a couple of the Technobots needed to be sent if the rescue of Hot Rod was to be successful and have as little injuries and/or casualties as possible.

Prime brought his optics back up to the Technobots in front of him. "And what of Hot Rod?" He asked.

"What _about_ him?" Afterburner snapped, shooting Scattershot a small glare after the lead Technobot gently backhanded his arm. "His condition hasn't changed. He's still alive."

"Is Galvatron?" Optimus pressed.

"Slag straight he is," Strafe answered. "Actually, that's another thing. We weren't sure at first, but we're certain now. They've been together the entire two weeks they've been gone."

Optimus stared at him blankly. "...Together?"

Strafe nodded. "We thought it was weird, too. Given their history, we figured they'd have tried to keep as far away from each other to keep alive. I sure would have after unloading all my ammo at Galvatron's direction. But no. They've been sticking together like strong adhesive."

"Hm... Perhaps Hot Rod managed to get Galvatron to see reason," the Autobot leader mused. "Reason enough to keep them both alive, at any rate. Is there anything else to report?"

"No sir," Scattershot replied.

Optimus Prime gave them a single nod. "Thank you for your hard work. Take a well deserved break. You've all earned it. I'll be calling on you again when we're ready to mount a rescue attempt."

"Thank you, sir," chorused four of the five Technobots. Afterburner simply huffed and watched as Optimus left the room.

Overall, Prime felt that meeting was well worth the wait. It would have been better to have received it sooner, but that was asking too much. At least it hadn't been a full month before they got answers. Hot Rod seemed to be handling his own fairly well while out there. Which was great to hear. Now... Who to send on a rescue mission to retrieve him?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everybody having fun? I sure am. Looks like Hot Rod's sick of the party, though. Oh well. Sorry for the short chapter. Just wanted to get something out and I really didn't have a whole lot planned for this bit. We're going to be moving on to some more detailed stuff next, I promise.
> 
> Thank you for your patience and thank you for reading. If you have any suggestions or comments, I would love to hear them. Reading your inputs gives me warm fuzzies and gives me feedback on how to continue to make an enjoyable story.


	12. Gas Put to Flame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which things between the duo get heated.

When Galvatron awoke, he found himself staring up into the face of a familiar animal. It took a moment to process what he was looking at, but as soon as he sat up and turned, recognition hit him. "It's you. You're from that first oasis we ever came across."

The cloud deer from before hummed at him.

"If you're looking for a hug or pat because you think I'm happy to see you, forget it. I don't care that you're here, I'm just a little surprised. That's all."

He received a snort.

"Just as long as that's clear." Galvatron threw his gaze to where Hot Rod had been forced to stay last night, then frowned when the red and orange bot was nowhere to be seen. He got to his peds and began searching around the oasis. "Hot Rod? Hot Rod, you imbecile, get over here and greet your friend." The lack of response ruined the pleasant mood his recharge had put him in. Did that idiot _really_ run off on his own?! Just wonderful!

Galvatron whipped around, seeking out one of the leading creatures with his optics. Coincidentally, one of them was approaching him and his peripherals immediately caught the movement and snapped his focus to it. "You! Where did my stupid aft partner go?!"

The creature yipped at him in response. It would have been nice if Galvatron's language knowledge covered 'nonsense animal noises,' but as it so happened, it didn't and that wasn't making things better. The deer, however, had no trouble with it and hummed with what sounded like concern. It turned to the Decepticon leader and nodded in a direction, then took off. At least _someone_ here was useful.

Galvatron wasted no time in following their friend. After all, who knew how much trouble the rash transformer had gotten himself into within the time he'd been resting in the oasis? Half-clocked kid could have gotten himself killed. Oh frag, that was _not_ allowed to be the case. At all. Denied. That... was a new sentiment. Odd. When did that become a thing?

The Decepticon slowed to a stop in the air as the deer below him ceased its galloping to sniff at the ground. It was less than five seconds before they were off again in a different direction. Strange, though. The way they were going seemed vaguely familiar. Galvatron was tempted to ask his guide where this led, but he knew that was pointless. That's it! He was going to figure out how to communicate with these creatures, no matter what!

It was obnoxious not knowing what they were saying! If he could learn the Hytaxian language--which was made up of clicking and odd sounds made in the back of the throat--he could _certainly_ learn how to communicate with these creatures. It couldn't be that hard. The animals already understood Neo-Cybex. It was just a matter of distinguishing what their hums and yips meant. Patterns.

He decided starting up a possible conversation would be a good place to pick up. But what to ask? "Do you think Hot Rod's run into any trouble?" Maybe not the _best_ starter, but he supposed it did its job well enough. The deer responded, and they were off.

~~~~~~~

Hot Rod stopped at the two large doors that were cracked open from his rash mistake and transformed to allow himself to look up at them. His optics traced the large faded X across them, now sliced in half. That's the universal plague symbol? Then why was that not the case on Earth? Maybe because it was in a planetary system out in the sticks of space. That hardly mattered at the moment, though.

The Autobot continued in and forward through the halls. It wasn't far in that he found where he and Galvatron had that small spat. He crouched besides the broken crates and barrels to give them a closer inspection. There was the standard debris. Broken wood planks, splinters, nails, screws, rivets. But then there was also the smashed up contents. Metal canisters lay in heaps in the debris or individually scattered on the ground not far from it. Most looked crushed or dented, from Hot Rod falling on them if he had to guess. But there was one canister in particular that had not only been busted open, but also developed a sharp point.

Hot Rod squinted at it. Yellow flecks of paint appeared to have been left on it, leading the bot to conclude that this was the perpetrator. The canister holding a sample of the plague that lay within those walls, undisturbed until Hot Rod had fell upon it like a dunce. The Autobot heaved an irritated huff and straightened up again. There was the cause. Now he just had to go further in and find the antidote. ...If... there _was_ an antidote.

That small notion toyed with the youth's head for a moment, making him nervous. He couldn't stay like this... He just couldn't... If there was no way to cure this plague, he didn't know what he was going to do. Hot Rod took a deep breath and did his best to clear his head, then resumed his trek further in. There had to be a way. If there wasn't they would find a way back home and make one. They had to be getting near to finding a new way home. Right. Not long now.

~~~~~~~

Galvatron swore when those familiar double doors came into view. "You're _certain_ he came this way recently, Nitronux?"

The newly-named deer galloping on the ground below him hummed its confirmation.

"Blast it... What is he doing back here?" The Decepticon leader descended to come to a stand next to his guide, who stopped in front of the doors. "I suppose we've got no choice but to go in after him." He wasn't really surprised when the cloud deer huffed nervously and shook its head as it pawed at the ground with a hoof. "Then it's just me," he said decisively. "Wait for us here, Nitronux."

With grim determination, Galvatron entered the unsealed ruins. It was as dark and musty as he expected it to be. The further he delved, the more skeletons he saw among the decaying barrels and crates. This was an odd way for a civilization to treat its dead. Shouldn't a mausoleum be more organized? More thoughtful and reverent in the way the dead were displayed? These bodies laid haphazardly on the floor, against the walls...

Unless... this place was less of a mausoleum and more of a place for the infected to stay quarantined and die. A small pit formed and twisted in the Decepticon's spark.

"Hot Rod!" Galvatron bellowed into the darkness. He listened to his voice echo down the unseen corridors, waiting for them to stop so he could hear any attempt the other made to acknowledge him. He squinted as he thought he heard something vaguely in the form of a response, but it was so quiet it was hard to be sure. He tried again. "Hot Rod, answer me!"

For a few long moments, there was nothing but his echoes and silence. He was about to shout again, but a faint, "...tron..." met his audio receptors. Galvatron picked up the pace, sprinting down the hall. He was alive, at the very least. But in what condition?

"Hot Rod? Where are you?"

The answer was a bit clearer. He was getting closer, but his companion was obviously weak. "...ver here..."

Galvatron rounded a bend to find the rash Autobot on the ground, steaming like he'd just got out of an oven and looking as if he'd been trying to crawl along. The tyrant hurriedly dropped to his knees beside the ill bot and carefully turned him over onto his back. Hot Rod's optics were faintly flickering.

"Must've... passed out for a second," the Autobot mumbled before breathing a small laugh. "Guess I can't take the heat after all..."

Galvatron grit his denta as his body heated up a few degrees with anger. He couldn't believe he had even started to panic over the condition of this bit-brained dirtkicker! "Imbecile! Fool! Why are you so thoughtless with your actions?!"

The harshness of his tone startled the ill bot. "Gally, I--"

"Don't you 'Gally' me, you dim-sparked bootleg!" The tyrant interrupted. "Cybertron below me, it's stunts like this that made you a horrible Prime! You are inexperienced, rash, childish--" The startled look was replaced with one of hurt betrayal. Galvatron still wasn't done, though. "--and impulsive! You know little to nothing about the universe around you and yet you dive headfirst into situations like these, forcing others to clean up your messes! You've only managed to succeed in your endeavors through the work and skill of others carrying you!"

"Shut up..." Hot Rod croaked shakily.

"How much longer are you going to persist in acting like an adolescent?!"

"Like you're one to talk!" The youth shot back. "If something doesn't go your way, you throw a tantrum! How many Decepticons are willing to follow you nowadays out of genuine respect instead of fear that you'll abuse them?! I think even Cyclonus is starting to lose that for you!"

"How dare you?! I made an effort to seek your pathetic tailpipe out and you treat me to this?!"

"Don't give me that manipulative pile of slag! If you came to make me owe you another favor, then I don't need your help! I can find a cure on my own!" With that, Hot Rod promptly turned onto his stomach and struggled to push himself to his feet.

"I came all this way--"

"Then you wasted a trip for nothing! You obviously don't want to be here! Go away!"

Galvatron squinted at him furiously as he got to his feet. His fists clenched as he got the urge to hit the ill Autobot. That idiot absolutely _refused_ to listen! Why was he like this?! He reached out and grabbed onto Hot Rod's arm, attempting to drag him back to the entrance. "No, you will--"

The Decepticon leader was abruptly cut off as a fist made full contact with his face, sending him stumbling backward. Hot Rod had... somehow just gathered up enough strength to strike him! _Him!_ Galvatron! The Autobot met Galvatron's look of shocked fury with one of contempt. "I said. Go. Away."

Galvatron didn't move for a minute, then he and Hot Rod slowly turned their backs to each other and began to walk away. And that probably should have been the end of that. The two should have gone their separate ways finally. After all, as Galvatron had said, the relationship never would have worked. Hot Rod was an obnoxious good guy and Galvatron was a tyrannical bad guy.

...But he couldn't let it go.

The further he walked from the Autobot he'd spent almost a month traveling with, the more hacked off he felt. Was this really how it was going to end? All the effort put in to humor Hot Rod's attempt at friendship. The jokes, the relaxing talks, the massages, the exposed information of his past. Unicron's horns, he had shared things with Hot Rod that he had almost forgotten entirely. He probably would have done if the young Autobot hadn't made him think and bring them back to light. Was all of that wasted just now? Just like that?

...Absolutely _not_. He refused the mere notion. They were already this far. If they were going to call it off, it was going to be on _Galvatron's_ terms, and he wasn't going to just let it drop like that. But Hot Rod certainly seemed stoic about the idea. So... there was only one thing to do about it.

The Decepticon came to a stop and turned to face Hot Rod's retreating figure slowly getting eaten by the darkness. So Galvatron was a bad guy? Alright. A bad guy he'd be. He spread his legs into an L-shaped stance and bent his knees, bracing himself as he aimed his cannon arm behind him. He locked his optics on his target. The back of Hot Rod's head. He ran himself through a few scenarios that could have played out when he acted and charged up his cannon as he did. Then... he sprang forward and released the energy built up in his cannon, sending him _rocketing_ forward.

Hot Rod stopped and turned upon hearing the commotion, looking taken aback. He should have thought of the consequences when he decided to wage war. The bot didn't even have time to duck out of the way before Galvatron reared his head back and **BASHED** his crown into Hot Rod's helm, the blow smashing the Autobot into the ground and making him tumble a good distance away as Galvatron worked to slow himself. He stopped on his side, limbs splayed out in front of him awkwardly, expression blank.

Galvatron landed, sliding to a halt a few feet from him, then knelt next to him again to give him a once-over. The Autobot was out cold, a sizable crack now running across the side of his helm. That would need to be fixed at some point. But for now the Decepticon needed to get them out of here. There was nothing here that would benefit them, despite what Hot Rod thought. But where to go? He shook his head and picked up the young bot, tucking him under one arm, then resumed his trek back to the entrance. Nitronux might have some sort of idea.

~~~~~~~

Optimus stepped into the world of greys and blacks and took a moment for his optics to adjust to the extreme lack of color. His search party--made up of Nosecone, Carly, and Swoop--stepped through just after him. It took him several hours of running through the names of the Autobots and humans at his disposal, along with their strengths and weaknesses so he could gather a well-rounded team, but eventually he had decided on this one. He didn't blame those that had raised their optic ridges at him or questioned his reasoning, but he had a feeling this was what they needed.

Once that whole event had been settled and the team had gotten prepared, Nosecone had led them to a relatively close-by asteroid the Technobots located that had a connection point to the planet Hot Rod and Galvatron were on. And so here they were. The Matrix carrier threw a glance over his shoulder to check his team.

They were all staring with varying amounts of wonder and/or unease.

"This poor planet," Carly murmured sympathetically.

"Tragic, isn't it?" Nosecone drawled. "Once so full of life and majesty, now left an utter wreck due to some unknown force."

"That's why Swoop is here," Optimus Prime reminded them.

That's right. It had been called to Optimus' attention by Hot Rod at one point that Swoop had taken an interest in learning about history. A result of hearing so many of Kup's old war stories if the leader had to take a guess, but he could have been entirely off the mark. Whatever the case, Swoop had traveled around a small portion of the galaxy for a time with a begrudging Devcon, who had eventually caved to Kup's persuasion and Swoop's begging.

Despite the rocky start, Swoop and Devcon had learned to live with each other. Swoop occasionally helped out Devcon when directed or needed, and when he wasn't, he was off learning what he could about the planet they were visiting's history. Devcon assisted with the learning process now and again, sharing what info he knew and had gathered over the years. It was as unlikely a duo as Hot Rod and Galvatron were, and yet they made it work.

"Yes!" Swoop agreed excitedly. "Me Swoop talk with Technobots and do research of my own! Me don't know what happened, but me ready to find out!"

Carly chuckled at his enthusiasm. "Just remember that we're mainly here for Hot Rod, Swoop."

"Me know. It called 'search party' for a reason," he replied matter-of-factly.

Which begged the question... Prime turned to the Technobot with them. "Nosecone, any idea where we should start looking?"

The bot in question hummed and checked an instrument he had brought along. He then turned his back to Optimus and pointed away from them. "That way, it looks like. Wish I could give you landmarks or street names, but--"

"That's fine enough," the Autobot leader assured him. "Autobots! Transform and roll out!"

With that, the search was on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aha! Bet you thought I was dead! No way. I'm just really slow. >_>
> 
> I implemented a small headcanon of mine in here.
> 
> I love Swoop. I wished I saw more of him in the cartoon. He's a good boy. After watching his reaction to learning about a small portion of Cybertron's history, I got to thinking, "He really seems to enjoy that. What if he tries to pursue that and become a sort of historian?" 
> 
> Nothing scholarly, but purely out of the love of learning history stuff. I know I myself love to learn about history in a way most people don't, so I don't think it's out of the question. Just my line of thinking.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading! Hope you're enjoying it so far and please do leave your thoughts in the comments! I enjoy reading them.


	13. Small Update

Hello all, this is Tarkles coming at you with--as the title says--a small update. A rude interruption to the story, I know, but I wasn't sure how else to get this out without posting another chapter.

The real chapter 13 is done and ready to go. _H_ _owever_. I don't exactly want to post it just yet until I finish up a oneshot that sort of _ties in_ to the story. And that's because chapter 13 is short due to me wanting to focus on a bit of character development. Yes, curse me for not wanting to leave the side characters as "just there". I said I would world build, so I'm world building, darn it!

That said, I've got a good chunk of the oneshot done, but it's still not ready. So thank you for your patience with my slow butt, and I ask you to hold out a little longer.

In the meantime! My boyfriend and I have been working on a different story arc that we're quite proud of so far. Started out as a oneshot, then we wanted to explore our options, so now it's going to be a bit of a series. If you've looked through my... small... selection of works put out, you'll see "[Bombshell's Therapy Sessions](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21881968/chapters/52229317)" featuring the Insecticons and Bumblebee. That's the start of it. I haven't finished transferring over the entire story yet--I'm working on it--but if you haven't given that a read yet, I _highly_ recommend doing so! It'll give you something to read while waiting for Conjunx Endura's next update, and it's most of the way done.

That's all I have to say as far as updates are concerned. I'm really glad so many of you are enjoying what started out as my boyfriend suggesting a crack-ship to me! Seeing so many people enjoy this has me seriously motivated to finish, so you can expect to see more, absolutely. I have a bunch more writing pieces set aside as well, so you can look forward to those.

To give you a small idea, a few of my future shipping pieces will have Misfire and Grapple as a pair, Hoist and Breakdown as a pair, and Skywarp and Bluestreak will even get in on the fun. Have fun figuring out how I'm going to make those work!

Wish you all well!


	14. Dregs of the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Hot Rod self-doubts and Carly reminisces.

The voices were unbearable. Everyone tugging at him every which way. Hot Rod tried pleading with them to stop, but his voice was drowned out by the noise. The humans, the Autobots, the Decepticons, the aliens Cybertron was sworn to protect, and floating high and mightily over them was the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, casting a large shadow over all as it loomed and hung in the air high above Hot Rod's head.

This planet was under attack; that planet was doomed to starve without aid. These Decepticons were going to bring Unicron back; those Decepticons were raiding this Cybertronian city. This peace treaty needed to be signed; that conference was vital to attend. The voices got louder and the figures around him began to blur and dance around his sight, making him dizzy and disoriented.

Shouting and murmurs joined the mixture. **He got Optimus Prime killed! How could the Matrix choose him to lead us? He's destined to fail. He has no experience! The Decepticons will conquer Cybertron again for sure. All of us Autobots will go extinct because of him!**

Hot Rod yelled and begged for them to knock it off. **Shut up!** **Stop talking! Just leave me alone! I don't deserve this!** The Matrix above them slowly opened, glowing brighter as a strong gust of wind picked up the young Autobot and lifted him up toward the Matrix's expanding maw. Hot Rod screamed for help and tried to resist the pull by grabbing onto surrounding bots, but all for naught as they hit his servos and forced him to let go. The crowd below got smaller and their incessant caterwauling grew quieter, providing him momentary relief. Once fully within the Matrix, he was surrounded by bright blue light and the voices of the past Primes sealed within took up the helm.

The young Autobot clutched the sides of his head and continued screaming, but he couldn't hear himself through all the Primes' noise. It was too much. **Stop! Stop!! Get me out of here!! I don't want the Matrix!!**

****Optimus' voice could be heard among the wailing Primes. **You must accept the Matrix, Hot Rod! It is your destiny to lead the Autobots! You cannot run from your responsibilities!**

**I never wanted to lead!! I wanted to be like you, but not like this!! Someone help me!!** Just as he was about to lose himself, a single clear voice spoke above the rest.

"Hot Rod!"

The rest of the voices ceased and the light blipped to black in an instant. All was finally silent. Hot Rod gave it a few seconds before he chanced looking up. There, standing in front of him, was Galvatron. Calm. Steady. Staring straight into Hot Rod's gaze. He extended a servo out to him, palm up.

"Come with me," he said.

The young Autobot stared at the extended servo, mind blank save for the echoes of all the shouting. Slowly, he moved a servo away from his head to reach tentatively toward Galvatron's. Their digits grazed each other, sending a shiver through his arm as the Decepticon leader stimulated the nervecircuits within. Hot Rod's servo stopped and hovered an inch above Galvatron's as the youth began to have his doubts.

"Let me shoulder your burdens."

Cold relief and desperation washed over Hot Rod's body. **Yes! Please! Take this away from me!** The Autobot grabbed Galvatron's servo and gripped it tightly as if his life depended on it. "Please help me...!" he whispered frantically. "I don't want this...!"

Something was suddenly pressing against Hot Rod's back, but when he glanced back there was nothing there. And... he actually felt wet all over his body now. When Galvatron spoke, his voice sounded a bit further away from him.

"I'm trying, Hot Rod."

All went dark before the young Autobot's vision fritz'd and flickered, various shades of grey and a blurry splash of purple coming into view bit at a time. His processor felt fuzzy. A weak groan slipped out of his lips as he tried to sit up, but he was met with resistance. A firm and sturdy servo was sitting on his chestplate.

"Do not move," Galvatron warned. "Give your systems a chance to recover."

Recover?

"I've spoken with Nitronux. It seems to have an idea about where we can find you a cure."

"Ni...tronux?" Hot Rod croaked. As his vision cleared some more, a brighter color scheme came into view just a bit past Galvatron. The cloud deer's hum greeted Hot Rod's audial receptors. "Ah... Hey, buddy..."

"I awoke to him. And you weren't there."

"I was... trying to find a cure... myself... to show you I'm not a burden..." Hot Rod's dream came back to the front of his mind. Of how he'd begged for Galvatron to take his responsibilities.The Decepticon's earlier words came rushing back to the front of his mind. **'You've only managed to succeed in your endeavors through the work and skill of others carrying you!'** A stab of pain twisted in his spark and coolant quickly rose to his optics. Try as he might to hold the liquid back, it absolutely refused to be contained and spilled over his cheeks. "You're right... You're right, I... I can't do anything without help... Ultra Magnus, Kup, Optimus, _you_...! You've all been doing the work because I can't finish what I start...! I'm such a failure...! I'm sorry...!"

Galvatron stared down at him with what looked like mild shock, stunned into silence. A rare look to behold on his visage.

"You should just go without me," the youth sobbed. "It's not like I'll be missed... Everyone will probably be relieved..."

For a moment more the Decepticon tyrant was silent, and then, "I'm sorry."

The Autobot sniffled and took that to mean Galvatron was leaving him. It was odd the Decepticon leader would leave with that sentiment, but he wasn't— Wait... Galvatron wasn't moving. Hot Rod blinked some coolant out of his optics and met the leader's gaze. "What?"

"Hot Rod... I'm sorry," Galvatron repeated in an uncharacteristically soft tone. The servo gripped in Hot Rod's gave it a small squeeze. "You are not worthless. And you are not a burden." He sighed and looked away, a small scowl with a hint of guilt toying with his facial features. "I panicked and wanted you to stop running off on your own. The only way I know how to do that is to make others feel powerless."

"But I really did make a sucky Prime..." Hot Rod insisted. "I didn't know what I was doing, I was just acting like I did... I'm sure I was the worst Prime ever..."

"No," Galvatron replied firmly. "That position belongs to Zeta Prime. I know you've heard of him."

"Oh Primus, that one Prime that almost went on a genocide run?"

"Precisely. He is who I would call the worst Prime in history that I personally know of. You're by no means the greatest--" When Hot Rod groaned Galvatron shot him a squint. "Oh shut up. I was going to finish with: you're not bad. Now stop crying, you're only embarrassing yourself."

The Autobot youth sniffled and released Galvatron's servo to stiffly bring his servos to his faceplate and wipe away the tears that were still gushing. "...I dreamed about the Matrix... And my responsi—"

"You don't need to tell me about it," the Decepticon leader interrupted, moving to feel sections of Hot Rod's body, then scooping dirty looking water over them. Despite not looking great, the water did wonders for his overheated systems. He felt much cooler than he did back in the ruins. "Thinking about it is only going to make you continue crying."

"Ugh, you're such a jerk," Hot Rod complained. "Where are we, then?"

Galvatron nodded toward the cloud deer. "Nitronux led me to this place. A deserted oasis. Doesn't seem to have its magical healing affects, but it's not frozen in time and it's reducing your temperature nicely, so it'll have to do."

Hot Rod felt his tears slowing as his mind wandered further from thoughts of prior events. "...Okay, really? Nitronux? You named them?"

"I had to call it _something_ ," Galvatron defended.

"So you named them something that sounds an awful lot like 'Cyclonus'. Of course. Why not?" The young bot smirked slightly.

The Decepticon leader's mouth twisted into a mild pout of disdain. "After that last stunt Cyclonus pulled, the position for second-in-command is up for grabs."

A wheezy laugh escaped Hot Rod. "Oof! What'd he do? He must've seriously messed up to deserve that!"

"The sniveling wretch tricked me into going to a planet bent on reformatting my mind! He said it was to 'cure' my processor! Bah! There's nothing wrong with me!"

"Ehh, I dunno, Gal. You're awfully twitchy and have a bad attitude. You've also got a dominance issue and for a while at the beginning you spoke in tongues, I'm pretty sure. It was crazy." The Autobot grinned broadly as Galvatron's expression grew outraged. He spoke up again before the bot could blow up at him. "But you're still my knight in shining armor. Even though you _are_ a big jerk."

This earned him a face full of dirty water, then an abrupt pick up. "You're clearly _done_ recovering. We're moving on. Let's go, Nitronux."

Hot Rod spat out the water that entered his mouth and stated, "You know, my head still hurts, so I'm not apologizing for that." He made himself comfortable in Galvatron's arms as the Decepticon took to the air to follow the now galloping animal companion. "So where are we going?"

Galvatron kept his gaze on the path ahead. "We're going to try looking for a cure across the ocean. On that other continent you mentioned."

"Sounds like a decent plan. Guess I'll stick with you for now."

"Ohhh no," the leader huffed. "There's no 'for now' about _anything_. You're not leaving my _sight_. _Ever_. You're far too rash in this state and can't be trusted not to run off."

"I resent that."

"'Represent' is what you mean."

An almost hearty laugh burst forth from Hot Rod, making him shut his optics and miss Galvatron's tiny smirk down at him.

~~~~~~~

"It's amazing how something like a lack of color can have an affect on so many things. Someone's mood, a sense of perception, how the mind develops." Nosecone had gone into another one of his fact spouts. Only it was less like a spout and more like a crawling meander with how he spoke.

Optimus didn't have a problem with letting the more scientifically gifted bots talk nerdy to him every now and again, but he could feel Nosecone's somewhat soothing voice beginning to lull him into a drowsy state. He grunted with what he hoped sounded like a politely interested tone and inwardly wished they'd come across something or someone soon. From inside his cab he could hear Carly yawn. Seems like he wasn't the only one.

Swoop, however, appeared to be fascinated. "Me not know that before! Color is very important?"

"Indeed. Why, there are many scientific studies that--"

"Er, Nosecone," Optimus cut in, "I hate to interrupt, but just how far from Hot Rod would you estimate we are?"

The Technobot paused his fact dump to shift one of his arms out of vehicle mode and check his tracking device within his cab. "It looks like he's on the move again. Given our current course, we should meet in fifteen miles. That is if he doesn't suddenly shift directions on us. It's hard to be precise with only myself here."

"Your estimations are plenty, Nosecone. I'm sorry, but I figured keeping the rescue team small would prevent certain issues arising."

The Technobot shifted his arm back into vehicle mode. "And you're quite right, Prime. If this drags on, you wouldn't want to leave Cybertron without able warriors and commanders to protect it from invaders while we're away. And then there's also a matter of rations--"

Carly took that moment to speak up. "But what about Galvatron? Where is he?"

"Technobots said Galvatron was traveling with Hot Rod," Swoop answered. "He probably is, still."

"What if he has him as a hostage?"

"I understand your concern, Carly, but that's unlikely," Optimus Prime assured her. "Galvatron doesn't have the patience for hostages. Not without his lackeys to keep him calm. No, something else is going on here."

Swoop suddenly called out with excitement, "Oh, oh! Optimus Prime! Look! Me Swoop see old city ahead! It _so big_! Can we explore??"

The Autobot leader hummed as the peak of the city came into view. Tempting. It would be interesting to look around and get an idea of what happened. But Hot Rod came first. "Maybe later, Swoop. Remember our first priority. We can always come back to it, I promise."

"Okay. Me understand," Swoop accepted, albeit with mild disappointment in his tone. It swiftly perked back up as he turned his attention to the Technobot. "Nosecone continue his color talk?"

"Ah, I would be delighted. So as I was saying--"

"My, but it's impressive looking," Carly breathed as Nosecone resumed his drawl, leaning forward to peer out of Optimus' windshield and take it all in. "Can you imagine what it must have looked like at its best?"

"I believe the term best used for description would be, 'magical'." Prime answered, earning a small chuckle from the human that ended with a small sigh. He'd heard that sigh come from her before. That was a reminiscent tone. "What's up, Carly?" He asked gently.

He felt Carly lean back against his seat and shift her arms, likely folding them. "Every now and then I... I miss Ironhide, Optimus..." she said quietly. "I don't feel like I got enough time to be with him. I had this list. Places I thought he'd like to visit, things he might like to see and do, and stuff like that. I would have loved to have visited a place like this with him."

A small pit formed in Optimus' spark and twisted. Ironhide... "I understand," he murmured. "There are times when I, too, think back to days long past. To the times when the most we had to worry about was the Decepticons raiding power plants. I would be lying if I said I didn't miss those days."

"We were like one great big happy family," she sniffed. "What I wouldn't give to have one more day like that..."

"We still are," Prime reminded. "Our family may have had some losses, but the cycle of life has granted us some new members. The best way we can respect those we've lost is by loving those who've joined us in the same way. I know Ironhide wouldn't want us moping and neglecting the family we have because he's gone."

It was quiet for a long moment between them as Carly wiped her eyes, then she breathed a small laugh. "He wouldn't, would he? He'd probably say something like, 'Aw, come on, guys! Just 'cause I got mah can handed to me, don't mean you should lose your fighting spirit!'"

The Autobot leader chuckled. "Your impression is impressive, Carly. Have you been practicing that?"

A giggle escaped the human companion. "I back-talked him with it once, and he loved it so much, I _had_ to use it whenever I got the chance." She sighed again, but her tone was much more light than when she had done the first time. "Optimus?"

"Yes, Carly?"

"That list... Can I take you to those places and show you those things? In memory of him?"

The warm feeling that washed over Optimus was sudden and made him slow down a tad. "I would love that, Carly. Thank you."

"Optimus Prime," Nosecone called over, putting an end to the private interaction. "I just checked again. Hot Rod is heading in the direction of the city."

"That mean we _have_ to stop at city now, right??" Swoop asked excitedly.

"Well, if that's where Hot Rod's going to be, then that's where we'll have to meet him," Prime conceded.

Swoop cried out with gleeful enthusiasm, making Carly giggle. "We explore big city and learn history! Me Swoop write everything down and tell Devcon later!"

Optimus joined Carly and chuckled. "You do that, Swoop. All right men and lady. Full speed ahead."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, that other fic tied into this chapter isn't going to be finished for a while. Soooo here you are. I'll let you guys know when it's done and up. In the meantime, here's the next chapter. I've actually had a ton of motivation to work on this fic recently, so I've got the next chapter done as well! However, I am going to space it out, so you won't be seeing that until next week
> 
> The small headcanon for this chapter is Carly loved Ironhide romantically. Because her and Spike being a thing makes absolutely no sense to TheThreeofDiamonds and I. The fic I'm working on is supposed to help piece together the "how that came to be" from the perspective of her and Ironhide's relationship.
> 
> Thanks for waiting and very much for reading! Please do comment, I love to read them!


	15. Tense Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the duo plus animal friend and the rescue party meet up.

The flight was as dull as ever, but with Hot Rod in servo Galvatron found that he could afford to take some time to collect his thoughts. He subtly glanced at Hot Rod, who was entirely too comfortable in his hold. The young mech had his legs swinging gently and an arm wrapped around Galvatron’s shoulder to rest on his back. And to top it all off, he was whistling and humming a tune. A dramatic turn from the panicked and almost depressed disposition he had earlier.

The sight of him sobbing over his past role as leader of the Autobots and clinging tightly to Galvatron’s servo. It was making the Decepticon’s spark do inexplainable things and he didn’t like it. He squinted at the road ahead. What in the name of Unicron was _wrong_ with him?! This wasn’t like Galvatron at all! He was a battle-hardened war monger! He _craved_ violence and fear and the shedding of energon! _Especially_ Hot Rod’s! Once upon a time, the sight of Hot Rod bawling over his insecurities would have made the tyrant giddy!

And yet… He didn’t. He didn’t crave any of those things. And he wasn’t giddy. Not anymore. Slag, his enemy had to have done something to his head while he was powered down one night. There had to be something he could do to counter this. Something to put an end to all the odd feelings. A method immediately came to mind.

A **Death Flight**. He could picture it now. The Decepticon leader flying them up high, high into the atmosphere. So high the land masses and oceans would look like that of something off of a generic globe, but not so high that gravity wouldn’t have an effect. The young bot would be concerned, frightened, suspicious at that point. And Galvatron would stare him dead in the optics… and let him go. Watch coldly while the Autobot screams and flails as he plummets to his ultimate demise. His thoughts lingered on his envisioning of what Hot Rod’s expression would look like, and something in the back of his mind _screamed_ its objection.

**No! You’re** _ **not**_ **dropping him like that!** Involuntarily, his arms tightened their grip on the Autobot within them, as if to protest and put the thought out of his mind. Ugh, what _was_ this?!

“Gal?”

The tyrant slightly shifted his head to look at and acknowledge Hot Rod. The young bot had his head tilted some and almost right next to Galvatron’s face.

“You’re squeezing me,” he said.

Galvatron’s scowl deepened. “And?”

Hot Rod stared into his optics for a quiet moment, before trying to relax in the Decepticon’s grip again. “Just don’t crush me. Remember, I’m a delicate princess.” He could say that again. A delicate princess and a _problem_ that Galvatron just couldn’t figure out. He watched as the young bot glanced at his face again, his expression oddly unreadable, then he suddenly shifted and brought his servos up to Galvatron’s mouth, using his thumbs to hook the corners up into a forced grin.

Galvatron’s optic twitched with irritation. “What are you doing?” He growled around the thumbs, shutting an optic briefly when one of Hot Rod’s servos twitched involuntarily.

“You look hacked off all the time. _Smile_ once in a while, Gally. You’ll feel better. It’s a proven fact. Perceptor says so.”

The tyrant responded by opening his mouth wide and chomping down on Hot Rod’s thumbs, making the Autobot shout with painful indignation and wrench them back out. Galvatron received a dirty glare for that as the young mech brought them up to his own mouth to suck away the pain and leaking fluid. The sight brought an amused smirk to the Decepticon’s faceplate. “You’re right,” he admitted with a slightly mocking tone. “I do feel better.”

“Aft,” Hot Rod shot back. “You still owe me for my helm at _least_. I want one _luxurious_ massage tonight.”

“I already apologized for that!”

“No, you apologized for shooting at my insecurities. I want a massage,” the Autobot insisted, obstinate and firm.

Galvatron curled his lips into a snarl, flicking his gaze downward as he heard what sounded like animalistic laughter. “You be quiet, Nitronux! Just focus on leading us to where we need to go!”

The deer glanced upward with a smirking glint in its eyes, then nodded to the path ahead. They were coming up on that giant city he and Hot Rod had explored the day (or two?) before.

“What do we need to go there for?” He questioned.

Nitronux released a series of hums in different tones. Galvatron wasn’t able to make sense of any of it.

“Maybe they have some business to take care of here,” Hot Rod suggested.

Galvatron grunted his acknowledgement and a silence fell between them… until Hot Rod resumed his whistling and humming once he’d pulled his thumbs out of his mouth.

It wasn’t until they reached the city that he fell quiet again and his body got stiff. He’d sat up a tad and was staring down and around at the buildings and creatures they passed, optics alert and attentive. He half-raised an arm when a few creatures got too near Nitronux below, readying himself to shoot them with the weapons hidden in the pipes along the side of his arm.

Galvatron flicked his gaze from the scene below to Hot Rod. “Unless you wish to lose control again,” he interjected, “best stay out of it.”

“If they need help, I’m not standing by.”

“And I’m not dealing with you losing rationale again. I will make that crack bigger if I must.”

The Autobot threw him a nasty squint before whipping his head back down to view the scene below upon hearing a loud thunder crack.

Nitronux had surrounded itself in a storm of small lightning bolts with a stomp of its hooves, startling the aggressive creatures and making them turn tail to flee.

“Seems they don’t _need_ your help.”

The young mech sighed quietly and lowered his arm again, resuming keeping watch of their surroundings.

Nitronux looked up at the two bots, then nodded forward and continued on its path. As they went, it became clear to Galvatron that they were heading to the dodecahedron capital building. The Decepticon descended just enough to fly near the deer.

“Are you looking for a map?”

It yipped its confirmation.

A distant screech—from what Galvatron assumed was from one of the aggressive animals—sounded, making Hot Rod suddenly perk up more. Galvatron had to quickly adjust his grip to keep the bot from slipping out of it. “Would you sit still?” He snapped.

“We have to go over there,” the Autobot demanded, pointing in the direction the screech came from. “That was Swoop.”

“And you’re certain you’re not just hearing what you want to hear? It could just be one of those creatures that sounds a lot like him.”

A shout of pain came a from voice the two of them knew all too well, making the leader turn his attention to that direction, too.

“Optimus is here?” Galvatron gaped.

“No, you’re just hearing things,” the young mech retorted.

“Shut up!” The Decepticon barked out. “Nitronux! Change in course! Follow me!” Without waiting for a response, he swerved and took off.

~~~~~~~

Optimus stood in front of Carly and clutched at the newly received gash in his side. The aggressive creatures had surrounded them before the group saw them and had time to realize what was going on. The second they attacked, Nosecone charged for the animals nearest him while Swoop screeched and shot a few missiles at the creatures shooting flames and a storm of rocks at him. The leader had charged through the path Nosecone made to provide Carly a safe place to get out and allow him to transform, but the moment he’d turned his attention to the battle, a cougar with light blue swirling designs and large, sharp appendages jumped at him and slashed at his side.

He’d managed to grab the cat and throw it at a large eagle with green designs giving Swoop a hard time, knocking the two creatures to the ground and dazing them. What was confusing is they seemed to turn against each other once they’d recovered. At least they weren’t focused on the defending group anymore.

“They’re acting so savagely,” Carly exclaimed. “What happened to them? Or were they always like this?”

“I’m sure we’ll find out later. Find cover, Carly, and don’t come out until it’s safe,” Prime ordered. He pulled out his ion blaster and shot at any creature that took notice of her as she sought refuge.

Nosecone whipped around and swerved into a rock monster, slamming into it with his side before transforming and pulling out his blaster. “Amazing the diversity we have here.”

“Admire them when we’re not in immediate danger, Nosecone!”

“They so many!” Swoop cried out, smacking some of them away with his wings. “So many and small targets!” He screeched again when an explosion went off near him, knocking him to the ground and allowing a few animals to pounce on him.

Optimus shot a few of them off, allowing Swoop to slap the last one away and get back up. The Autobot leader was suddenly slammed into by a large bipedal bear, making him drop his blaster to wrestle with it. Despite being a little smaller than himself, its strength still gave Prime a run for his money. He was actually struggling to keep it off him.

A purple streak of something suddenly **bashed** into the bear, bowling Prime over as it passed and sent the creature flying into a few smaller animals. Optimus hurriedly propped himself up to get a look at what just went by. The streak had slowed down enough to make out the figure of… “ _Galvatron_?!”

The tyrant landed and shot a few blasts at the monsters still up and fighting. “Don’t tell me you’re not pleased by my presence, Prime,” Galvatron smirked.

Nosecone responded for him. “As a matter of fact, we’d be happier to see Hot Rod than you.”

“You don’t get Hot Rod until the coast is clear,” Galvatron snapped. “Keep the assault up and do _not_ harm the deer!” He gestured to a deer with cloud-like wool formed around the base of its neck and hooves. It had ran in and joined the fight, firing electrical attacks at the aggressors.

Optimus grunted and got back to his feet. “Understood. But if you’ve done _anything_ to hurt Hot Rod—”

“Save your threats, Prime!”

The Autobot leader narrowed his optics at Galvatron, but swiftly returned his attention to fending off their attackers. He would admit, having Galvatron around made the odds better and the fight go smoother than it had been going. It wasn’t long until all the creatures, save for the deer, had been driven off.

Swoop promptly transformed into robot mode once they’d all been run off and fixed Galvatron with what the Dinobot thought was a menacing look. “Now, you give back Hot Rod.”

Galvatron rolled his optics at him and opened his mouth to retort when Carly suddenly interrupted him.

“Guys!” She called, standing by a broken slab of a wall and waving her arm at them. “I found Hot Rod! Something’s wrong, though!”

Nosecone raised an optic ridge and began striding toward her, while Swoop at least shot Galvatron another accusing glare before following.

Optimus moved forward, placing a servo against Galvatron’s back and ushering him forward with him. “What did you do?” He growled.

“I ordered him not to be _stupid_ and he went and got himself infected with a plague anyway,” the Decepticon leader replied.

Optimus paused and turned to him fully. “What plague? How did this happen? What is it doing to him?” Prime anticipated he would have had to get rough to get the information from him. Or that the tyrant wouldn’t have cooperated at all, or perhaps would have gloated snidely.

However, Galvatron met his gaze seriously and answered, “I don’t know what the plague is referred to. We encountered a sealed catacombs where the planet’s infected went to quarantine themselves and die. I told him not to open it, but he did despite my orders and went inside. When I tried to get him out, he resisted and fell upon a container and something inside holding the plague punctured his spoiler fin.” The Decepticon turned his head to look at where Carly, Nosecone, and Swoop disappeared. “Whatever it is, it’s messing with his logic circuits and his body’s functionality. He has moments where he doesn’t think clearly, his cooling systems aren’t functioning so he overheats, and I’ve noticed his hand and a few other jointed parts twitch from time to time.”

“How long ago did this happen?”

“In case you haven’t noticed, time is difficult to tell here,” Galvatron said with his usual irritable tone. “Several days? A week? He hasn’t had a proper recharge within the time period he’s had it. He’s currently running off the trickle charge Nitronux gave him.” The tyrant motioned to the deer beside them.

Optimus redirected his attention to the animal. “Nitronux, is it? I’m Optimus Prime, Hot Rod’s leader. Thank you for taking care of him.” The Autobot commander received a soft hum before the deer turned its gaze to look at where the others went and shifted anxiously.

Galvatron resumed walking toward where Hot Rod and the others were, motioning for Nitronux to do the same and glancing over his shoulder at the Prime. “So how did you and your team come to get here, Optimus?”

“The Technobots traced his spark to this planet through small wormholes scattered around the space nearest Cybertron,” Prime answered. “We came through one of those.”

“We’ve been searching around for one of those but finding them is like trying to find a… I believe Hot Rod said the expression is ‘needle in a haystack’.”

The Autobot leader furrowed his optic ridges. Since when did Galvatron become so… like this? When had he ever memorized what Hot Rod said? When had he started using earth lingo? _When_ had he actually started being reasonable and cared for Hot Rod’s health? ‘ _We’ve_ been searching around’? What in the blazes was going on here?? They were already near the wall, though, so the Q and A had to be put on pause.

When they rounded the bend, he was greeted to the sight of Hot Rod on his feet being inspected by Nosecone and affectionately nuzzled by Swoop while Carly stood off to the side and watched the Technobot work.

“You Hot Rod so warm! You have fire power now?” The Dinobot asked with a curious grin.

Hot Rod smiled up at him and shrugged. “Well, you know me, Swoop. Always looking for new ways to bring the heat.” He gave the Dinobot’s head a pat as the pterodactyl laughed.

“Hot Rod,” Optimus said, gaining the youth’s attention. “It’s good to see you again. I’ve heard you’re feeling unwell?”

The young Autobot’s behavior was odd. He stiffened at the sight of his leader and lost his smile. “Y…Yeah. I’ll be fine, though. Sorry you interrupted your busy schedule for me.”

Prime shook his head. “Don’t be ridiculous. I always have the time to search for a lost friend.” The two stared quietly at each other for a moment before Carly interrupted it with a giggle.

Nitronux had wandered up to her and sniffed her before getting cozy, humming happily when she began stroking him and giving him attention.

“Who’s your friend, Hot Rod?” She asked. “They’re very pretty.”

If Hot Rod heard the question, he certainly didn’t show it. He continued to stare silently at his leader, almost as if he were entranced, but he was very much alert. Galvatron ended up answering her.

“That is Nitronux, one of the native creatures that lives on this planet. We met them near the beginning of our time spent here. They have been very helpful.” He looked at the Autobot youth. “Haven’t they, Hot Rod?” When he, too, received no answer, his resting scowl deepened and he got into a position that suggested he was about to launch himself at him. “Back away!”

Nosecone and Swoop looked at him dumbfounded, only to be taken by surprise when Hot Rod suddenly elbowed and punched them to get out of their touch. Nitronux released a startled cry, but put itself between Carly and the sudden raging bot.

Hot Rod whipped out the saw tucked away behind his hand and rushed at Optimus with a scream of fury, startling his leader. “Hot Rod?!” Prime exclaimed, taking several steps back.

To make his day even more confusing, Galvatron leapt in the way and used his cannon to block Hot Rod’s attack, then tackled the youth to the ground and began wrestling to hold him down. “Hold down his legs!” The Decepticon shouted, waking the surrounding Autobots up from their stupor.

Swoop and Optimus Prime each dived to clamp the youth’s legs to the ground while Galvatron kept his upper half pinned.

Carly peered out from around Nitronux with eyes wide with concerned fear. “What’s gotten into him?!”

“As I was telling Prime, he’s not thinking straight.” Galvatron grunted. “Whatever this plague is, it’s making him aggressive. Unreasonable. Much like most of the creatures you’ll find on this planet.”

“Prime, I highly recommend getting him back to Cybertron as quickly as possible,” Nosecone spoke up. “I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that I want a medibot to confirm.”

“Understood, Nosecone.”

Galvatron shifted to secure his hold on the squirming bot beneath him. “It’ll have to wait until he’s overheated himself into temporary stasis. Shouldn’t take long now.”

“Hot Rod turned into volcano!” Swoop exclaimed. “Got hot and exploded!”

Yes, but _why_? He was fine in front of the others, so why did he suddenly lose it at the sight of Optimus? Prime winced as his servos began to burn from the amount of heat Hot Rod was giving off, but he held fast. His plating could handle it, he just had to ignore his nervecircuits. They held this position until the red and orange mech’s attempted thrashing abruptly halted.

“Is he…?” Optimus asked, trailing off but leaving the question still there.

Galvatron shifted off of the mech to kneel beside him, allowing the Autobot leader to see his soldier passed out where he laid. “Passed out. It’s safe to let go.”

Swoop and Optimus released the youth’s legs, Optimus pausing to sit back on his heels, heave a sigh, and stare at his soldier sadly. “…Nosecone, will he be able to recover from this?”

“If my hunch is correct, yes, but he’ll need a medical practice that isn’t commonly performed.”

That didn’t help Optimus’ mood any. “…Alright. Let’s go back.” He leaned forward to pick up Hot Rod, only to stop and glare at Galvatron when the Decepticon leader moved to get in the way and hold him back. “What?”

“ _I_ will carry him,” Galvatron insisted.

“I would feel better doing it myself than leaving him in _your_ servos, _Galvatron_ ,” Prime spat.

To which the Decepticon sneered and retorted, “And _I_ would prefer you not set him off again. I think he would much rather be in _my_ grasp than _yours_.”

It took a good deal of self-control to keep himself from wincing at the jab. Instead he glanced at his once-was-successor and hesitated.

“Me Swoop can carry Hot Rod,” the Dinobot chimed in, trying to be helpful.

  
  
“But then you can’t fly, Swoop,” Carly pointed out.

  
  
Swoop put on a perplexed expression and looked to their last teammate. “Nosecone?”

  
  
Nosecone tilted his head in thought. “I suppose I _could_ carry him. I would still be able to—”

“We don’t have time for this!” Galvatron shouted, picking up Hot Rod and standing. “This city is dangerous and your friend needs examination! Move it!”

  
Optimus growled lowly, but reluctantly gave the word. “Autobots, transform and roll out.” He morphed into his alt mode along with Nosecone and Swoop, then opened his cab door for Carly to get in.

The Decepticon leader turned to his deer companion. “Nitronux, we’re leaving. Come if you want or stay here.” Leaving it at that, he took to the air and followed the Autobots as they began the drive back to their way home.

The deer followed them to the perimeter of the city, then slowed to a halt and watched them go.

Swoop glanced backwards as they got farther from the guide. “Friend Nitronux, you should come! Me Swoop come back later for learning! You can show me places, yes??”

Nitronux tilted its head, but started running after them again, sprinting to catch up then slowing to keep pace.

Optimus watched in his rearviews as Swoop moved to fly in the air beside it. He then redirected his attention to the path ahead while throwing small glances at Galvatron and Hot Rod. Carly and him appeared to be on the same wavelength, because he felt her shift to look at them as well.

After a bit of tense silence, she broke it. “I had the chance to talk with Hot Rod a bit while you all were fighting,” she murmured. “Galvatron has actually been taking care of him. Working to keep him sane and safe. They were on their way to find a cure for him when they heard us and rushed over.”

“What has gotten _into_ him, Carly?” He uttered back. “This isn’t like Galvatron at _all_. I can’t wrap my processor around this. Why does he care so much about Hot Rod’s well-being? Why hasn’t he offlined him? What has _happened_ in the amount of time that they’ve been gone?”

“We’ll just have to ask them once everything has settled down a bit. Once we’re back on Cybertron and Hot Rod gets that medical attention.”

Optimus sighed. “I’ve got a bad feeling, Carly.”

He felt her give his dashboard a rub with her hand. “I know. We’ll get to the bottom of this soon, Optimus.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Dadimus is just very concerned and stressed out. He needs a break. And Gally is very much starting to feel the effects Hot Rod is leaving on him. Good stuff is just around the corner.
> 
> Can't believe it's been almost a whole year since this began and we're just now getting close to the shipping part. Yeesh, I'm sorry I'm so slow. Guess this type of story isn't called "slow burn" for nothing.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Please do leave comments! I love to read your thoughts and opinions.


	16. Home Safe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back on Cybertron at last

The friendly light of Cybertron’s sun reflecting off the roads and buildings greeted their optics and the chattering of aliens, Earthlings, and Cybertronians alike filled their audio receptors. Home sweet home.

“You Nosecone right,” Swoop chirped. “Me much happier here with colors.”

“Cybertron…” Galvatron muttered before releasing a relaxed breath. “It’s been too long.”

“We’ll be sure to get you a cell with a view,” Optimus grunted, exchanging a glare with the Decepticon leader as the group made their way to the medical building, Nosecone taking the lead and ignoring the two.

Carly cleared her throat awkwardly and looked to Swoop. “Swoop, maybe you should show Nitronux around Cybertron? Give them the tour.”

The Dinobot perked up. “Good idea! Me do that! Friend Nitronux follow me! Me show you all the good spots on Cybertron and show you fellow Dinobots! Ignore Slag, he cranky and rude.” The two swerved and took off for other parts of Iacon.

“I’ll go let the others know,” Carly continued, looking up at Optimus.

“That would be helpful. Thank you, Carly. Please send Ultra Magnus and Arcee our way.” He watched as she, too, left the group and once she was gone, he sighed and threw a glance at Nosecone. The younger bot was looking over his shoulder at him and merely gave him an empty stare before turning his attention back to the road.

Upon reaching the medical building, Optimus stopped at the reception desk in front of a startled nurse staring at Galvatron. “Salve, I need you to call First Aid. Is there an open operation room?”

The fembot snapped out of her stupor and dipped her head to him. “Yes, Optimus Prime. I’ll reserve room six for you.”

“Thank you. Nosecone, Galvatron.” He nodded to the hall leading further in and continued forward with them, leaving the receptionist to make the calls. Once they reached the room and entered it, Galvatron set Hot Rod down on the table and Nosecone began getting equipment setup so he could resume his examination. Optimus kept his optics on the purple mech until the Decepticon turned back to him and squinted.

“Spit it out, Optimus Prime.”

“Why do you care about Hot Rod?” He asked bluntly.

Galvatron folded his arms. “I don’t.”

“Yes you do,” Optimus snapped. “Don’t lie. Before you two disappeared, you wouldn’t have cared if he were set off. You wouldn’t have wanted to touch him. You would have sooner killed him and moved on. So _what_. Changed?”

The Decepticon leader’s upper lip curled. “What does it matter to you? How are my thoughts any of your business? I would think it doesn’t matter, considering you’re going to have me locked up and tried for my warcrimes, anyway.”

Prime turned to fully face him and pointed a stern digit. “Don’t start with me, Galvatron,” he warned. “If something happened to him that I need to know about—”

“Then you can ask _him_ about it when he powers up. He will confirm I’ve done _nothing_ to threaten his life. With the exception of what happened at the start.”

“You must have done _something_ to make him someone you would want to keep for yourself! Brainwashed him, maybe!”

“Listen to yourself, Optimus. This is truly a _pathetic_ display. Is this how the leader of the Autobots acts these days?”

Optimus paused. …Galvatron was right. Throwing random accusations like this was childish. He turned to face Nosecone and Hot Rod again and rubbed his forehead with a few digits, heaving a sigh. “I… apologize…” He relented slowly. “I’ve been considerably worried about his condition this past half-month… Given our past, I… jumped to conclusions.”

The Decepticon leader redirected his gaze to the red and orange mech as well. “I haven’t had the chance to pull anything. I tried to kill him immediately after we teleported. He convinced me that we would have better chances of survival if we teamed up. So we formed a truce.”

The door suddenly opened and in walked First Aid. “You ca—” He cut off with a small scream of surprise at the sight of Galvatron and froze in his tracks. “Wha—?! Huh?!”

Optimus turned to him and motioned for the medibot to calm down while Galvatron merely glanced over his shoulder at him. “It’s all right, First Aid. Ignore him for now. If you could please talk with Nosecone about Hot Rod’s condition.”

“Yes,” the Technobot piped up, pausing his examination to look to the medibot. “I’m certain now that the energon coursing through his system is polluted with an unknown substance that’s tampering with its chemistry.”

First Aid recoiled with surprise, then strode over to double check. “Oh my goodness… It is!” He turned back to the two leaders. “Gentlemen, if you’ll please leave. I need to call in a few more medibots and really focus on the surgery that needs to be performed.”

Galvatron’s scowl tightened. “Surgery?”

“Yes,” the medibot confirmed. “His system needs to be purged of all traces of the corrupted energon before we introduce clean energon back into his body.”

“Won’t completely draining him _kill_ him?”

“Not if I don’t have _distractions_ ,” First Aid insisted firmly.

Optimus placed a servo on Galvatron’s shoulder. “Come on. First Aid knows what he’s doing. Let’s go and let him concentrate.”

The Decepticon leader glanced back and forth between them, hesitated, then huffed and turned on his heel to leave, Optimus following. Upon exiting, they heard a voice call from not far down the hall.

“Optimus!”

Ultra Magnus and Arcee were walking toward them and only sped up their gaits to make quicker progress, throwing Galvatron distrustful looks.

“Magnus. Arcee,” Optimus greeted. “Thank you for being prompt.”

“So you found them?” Acree asked hastily. “Hot Rod’s safe? Is he getting checked out?”

“First Aid is tending to him as we speak. He’s not in the best condition, but he’ll pull through.”

Arcee released a relieved breath and smiled. “Thank Primus.”

Even Ultra Magnus managed a brief smile. “That’s great news, Optimus.” He let it drop as he directed his attention to Galvatron. “What is he doing here?”

Galvatron shot him an annoyed grin. “It’s unpleasant seeing your ugly faceplate again, too, Magnus.”

“He’s under arrest. If you would kindly do the honors.”

Magnus nodded and pulled out a pair of cuffs from his subspace. “With pleasure.”

With no resistance, Galvatron let Optimus and Ultra Magnus detach his arm cannon then restrict his wrists with the cuffs. He merely continued to look mildly inconvenienced and irritated as they did so.

Optimus looked to the fembot. “Arcee, if you could please stay here and report when First Aid is done.” She gave him a nod, and Prime proceeded to motion for Magnus and Galvatron to move.

And away they went.

~~~~~~~

The door didn’t open until most of a day had passed. By that time, Arcee, Carly, and Daniel were all patiently waiting outside in the hall, Daniel leaning against his mother and dozing off while she tenderly stroked his hair and stared at the opposite wall absentmindedly.

When the door finally slid open and the medibots inside filed out, Arcee got up and Carly snapped out of her thoughts to look up at First Aid, who stopped beside them. “Is everything alright?” Acree checked.

First Aid nodded. “He’s awake if you want to see him,” he said before turning and walking away.

The women smiled with collective relief and Carly promptly gave Daniel a gentle shake.

The boy blearily opened his eyes halfway and hummed questioningly.

“Daniel,” Carly said gently. “It’s time to get up. You want to see Hot Rod, don’t you?”

It took a moment for that to register, but once it did, the little boy sat up and appeared much more awake. “He’s awake? I can see him??” He checked loudly.

From within the room Hot Rod called out, “Is that Danno I hear?”

The child’s face immediately donned a wide grin as he sprang to his feet and rushed inside. “Hot Rod!!” He shouted enthusiastically.

Carly followed him in more slowly, watching fondly as the two best friends greeted each other.

“Danno!” Hot Rod beamed, kneeling and setting a hand down for Daniel to step on. He brought the child up to sit on his shoulder, holding still as Daniel hugged what he could of his head.

“I missed you so much, Hot Rod! Where did you go?? What was it like?? Did you—”

“Eeeasy there, little man,” the mech laughed. “There’s plenty of time for me to answer everything, so cool your jets a bit. It’s quite the tale to tell, I promise. You won’t be bored.”

“You’re not gonna tell me now?” The boy leaned away to fold his arms with a pout.

Hot Rod grinned. “I’m still a little fuzzy from my trip, buddy. I’ll tell you once I’ve gotten a few details cleared up. You know I’d never leave you hanging for a story.”

Daniel eased up. “Okay, but you promised,” he reminded.

The mech gave him a confirming nod before turning his attention to Arcee as she joined them. “Well aren’t you a sight for sore optics? Hey there, Arcee. Doing alright?”

She gave him a warm smile. “Much better now that I know you’re back home safe and sound.”

“Oh come on, Arcee,” Hot Rod said, giving her a cheeky grin. “You didn’t think I’d let a wasteland planet stop me from coming back, did you?”

The fembot shook her head. “No, I was more worried about the tyrant you were stuck with keeping you from coming back.”

Hot Rod lost his grin but still kept his light-hearted demeanor. “Who, Galvatron?? Psh, as if. He’s a pushover. I just convinced him he needed a shield and from there we actually made a pretty good team.”

“Team?” Carly echoed. “You weren’t at each other’s throats?”

Hot Rod shrugged. “We were at first, but he’s actually not that bad. Just really stressed out.”

“If he weren’t busy pushing this war between us, he wouldn’t _be_ stressed,” the woman pointed out.

“Well… Yeah,” Hot Rod agreed. “I think I’m finally getting him to understand that. He’s listening to me now, I can see it.”

Daniel raised his brows. “Are you two friends?”

“Yeah, Danno, we’re friends,” the red and orange bot replied nonchalantly.

“Is he nice now??”

“Eh, he’s still a jerk and kinda grouchy. And he hits me now and again. But not as much as he used to, so that’s progress! Can you believe he even said ‘sorry’ to me?”

This appeared to seriously impress the kid. “Whoa, really??”

The two women in the room, however, exchanged worried glances.

Hot Rod turned his head to them again. “Where is he, by the way?”

Arcee replied, “Galvatron’s under arrest. Optimus—”

“Perfect,” he interrupted. “I won’t have to go searching around aimlessly, then.” He moved his hand to help Daniel down from his shoulder and as he was doing so, Optimus stepped into the room.

“Hot Rod,” he said with a gentle and warm tone. “You’re awake.”

The young mech slowed his movements as he turned his head to his commander. After helping Daniel down, he hesitantly walked to stand before the older bot. “Optimus. I… did something horrible after I blacked out, didn’t I? When I first saw you back there.”

Prime placed his servos on the youth’s shoulders. “No damage came from it. We can all thank Galvatron for that.”

Hot Rod hung his head and clenched his digits into fists. “Optimus… I’m so sorry… I-I just—” He cut off and stared straight ahead in surprise when the commander suddenly pulled him into a hug.

“What matters is that you’re well and _home_ , Hot Rod. All is well.”

The bot in his arms didn’t move for a moment, then he relaxed into Prime’s hold and raised his servos to rest around the leader’s arms. “Yeah. I’m home.” He turned his head to look at everyone in the room fondly. “Thanks for the warm reception, everyone. Really.”

They all gave him smiles.

“You had us all so worried, we couldn’t just casually greet you back,” Arcee said. “I think even Ultra Magnus and Kup will be giving you a personal welcome later when they have a moment.”

“Oh boy,” he chuckled. “I’ll be looking forward to that.” A second later, he ended the embrace with Optimus and looked around at everyone once again.

“Well now!” Prime started, placing his servos on his hips. “I’m in the mood for a drink and we probably shouldn’t overstay our welcome. The medibots are busy folk. Would everyone care to join me at Maccadam’s? I’ve heard it’s reopened and selling beverages for Cybertronians and humans alike.”

Daniel was the first to exclaim, “Ooh, yeah! I wanna go! Can we, mom??”

Carly chortled. “Of course we can, dear.”

“I think that’s a lovely idea,” Arcee nodded. “What about you, Hot Rod?”

He folded his arms and tilted his head to the side with a small smile. “Weeeeell… Maybe for a bit. But then I’ve gotta go see a friend.”

“Swell,” Optimus beamed and gestured to the door. “Ladies. Hot Rod.”

The pink fembot led the way out. “Why thank you, Optimus Prime. Elita-One is so lucky to have a gentleman like yourself.”

“Thank you, but I prefer to think I’m lucky to have as patient a conjunx as she is,” he replied, following everyone from the back.

~~~~~~~

Galvatron sat quietly in his cell, staring at the wall and lost in thought despite some of the background chatter coming from other Decepticon prisoners of war. In the cell just next to him was Cyclonus. The second-in-command had attempted to strike up a strategy session. What they should do next. If the mighty leader had a plan. Galvatron had simply answered, “We _wait_ , Cyclonus. We wait and do _nothing_.”

“’ _Nothing_ ’?” Cyclonus had asked incredulously. “Mighty Galvatron, surely that can’t be all!”

To which the Decepticon leader glowered at the wall the other was behind. “Are you questioning me, _dolt_?!”

His rightwing man’s wince was audible. “N…No sire… I would never…”

There was a silence before Cyclonus had tried to initiate conversation again. This time about Galvatron’s whereabouts and the events that took place the past half-month. Seeing as he had nothing better to do, Galvatron humored him and recounted the events without using too much detail. After all, what happened between him and Hot Rod was none of Cyclonus’ business.

Once he was all caught up, Cyclonus brought Galvatron up to speed about the goings on while he was gone. Scourge and some of the Sweeps had gone off in search of their leader while Cyclonus had stayed behind to keep the Decepticons organized. Unfortunately, they had gotten caught in the latest raid. An unknown traitor had tipped the Autobots off to the Decepticons’ plans and they were promptly overpowered and captured.

And so here they were. Likely for the best. If Cyclonus had been out in the world and caught wind that Galvatron was under arrest, he’d have definitely tried to spring him out and Galvatron didn’t want that. No, he wanted to keep a close optic on the Autobots. Or rather—

A new set of voices broke Galvatron out of his thoughts and made him turn his head slightly in their direction. They were too far to make out clearly and the conversation didn’t last long enough for him to really try and strain his audio receptors for. Soon there were two sets of footsteps walking toward his cell. He didn’t bother turning fully until the footsteps had stopped in front of his cell gate.

There stood Hot Rod and Hardhead, the orange and red bot smiling at him while Hardhead typed away at the control panel for the cell.

“Comfy in your new room, Gal?” Hot Rod teased.

Galvatron pointed at him sternly and growled, “I _warned_ you about what would happen if you used that back here.”

The energy gate lowered and Hot Rod stepped in. “And I told you I don’t care.” He looked back at the warden. “Thanks, Hardhead.”

The gate raised back up and the soldier met Hot Rod’s gaze. “One hour,” he stated tersely, raising an index finger for show before he strode away again.

The Decepticon leader fixed the Autobot before him with a softer scowl. “You appear to be in good health.”

“Yup,” the young mech chirped. “First Aid and the other medibots fixed me right up. Never felt better.”

“So then why are you here?”

Hot Rod folded his arms and gave him a cheeky look. “You’ve forgotten already? Sheesh, Gal, are you starting to get forgetful in your old age?”

“You will treat our Mighty Galvatron with _respect_ , puny Autobot!” Snarled Cyclonus from next door.

The red and orange bot turned his head to the wall Cyclonus was behind. “Whoa, is that Cyclonus? How you doing, buddy?”

“Foolish _child_ ,” the second-in-command spat. “When we get out of here—”

Galvatron glared at the wall. “Cyclonus, hold your glossa before I _rip it out_ ,” he threatened.

“Yes, my lord…”

The tyrant returned his attention to the young mech in front of him. “Answer the question.”

“You still owe me a massage,” he replied. “And I intend to get it out of you.”

Galvatron stood up and raised a fist. The sheer _gall_ of this kid! “You came here just for _that_?! I am not your—!”

Hot Rod laughed and gestured for him to calm down. “I brought you a gift in exchange.” He reached into his subspace and pulled out a large mug of flavored energon, then held it out to him in offering. “Snuck this out of Maccadam’s Old Oil House.”

The Decepticon leader stared at the mug with hesitation, then eventually gave in to temptation and took it, throwing back his head to guzzle the beverage. Oh, how lovely the liquid energy felt as it slid down his throat! Absolutely refreshing after all that time he’d gone without it. He didn’t lower his head or the mug until he’d milked as much of the lingering droplets out of the container as he could. When he emerged, he let out a deep and content sigh, and set the mug down on the slab provided in his cell.

When he looked to Hot Rod again, he saw the Autobot watching him with a patient and… was that… fondness in his smile as well? No, couldn’t be. Regardless, Galvatron licked his lips and went to seat himself against the wall opposite the cell gate. He spread his legs to leave room for Hot Rod to sit between them, then looked up at the youth again. “Get over here, then,” he ordered.

The young mech perked up and happily obeyed, seating himself between Galvatron’s legs with his back facing him and getting comfortable. There was a shifting sound that came from Cyclonus’ cell, but aside from that the second-in-command remained silent. Good for him, because Galvatron was absolutely _not_ going to tolerate his interruptions if they continued. He was busy trying to pretend that his follower _wasn’t_ there to make this easier.

The tyrant set his digits gently against Hot Rod’s back and felt the Autobot shiver from the touch. For the first time in a while, he was no longer so warm he burned whatever touched him. The Decepticon paused to make note of this, then got to work. Hot Rod hummed a small moan and relaxed, letting Galvatron’s servos shift him wherever they pleased. There was a silence between the two of them for several minutes before the young mech spoke up again.

“Optimus says we have you to thank for not letting me do something I’d regret.”

“Does he now?” The purple bot grunted. “An odd sentiment coming from him, considering he assumed I’d done something to you.”

“Aah, you know how Optimus gets,” Hot Rod said with a shrug in his tone. “He was just stressed out. He appreciates that you—”

“Yes, that’s grand,” Galvatron cut in, not wanting Cyclonus to hear about how he saved Prime’s aft. He squinted when he heard a quiet chortle come from Hot Rod, and proceeded to pinch him, making the Autobot yelp with protest.

“Ow! Hey!”

“Don’t be such a protoform,” the tyrant dismissed firmly.

“Frag you, I’ll be what I want,” the other retorted. Despite the language, Galvatron couldn’t make out any hostility in the tone.

He huffed and muttered, “Insufferable bootleg.”

A pause fell between them again.

“This all kind of feels like a dream,” Hot Rod murmured. “We’re really back home on Cybertron, huh?”

“Indeed.”

“That planet is still dead, though?”

“So it would seem. However Swoop convinced Nixtronux to come along as he wants to go back and explore more thoroughly.”

“Oh, for his history stuff. He might want to take the other Dinobots with him. I’ll have to tell him that.” Pause. “It was a heck of a journey.”

The Decepticon grunted.

Hot Rod took in a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. “…Gally?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you.” The Autobot looked over his shoulder at him. “Seriously thank you. For everything. I’m ignoring the times you hit me.”

The tyrant raised an optic ridge at him. “What about the times I called you an idiot?”

“Nah, you were only being funny.”

“No I wasn’t.”

“Shh. This is supposed to be a heartfelt moment.”

Galvatron rolled his optics and stopped his massaging as Hot Rod carefully turned around to kneel and face him.

The Autobot was staring into the Decepticon’s optics with a weird look on his faceplate. An emotion Galvatron wasn’t familiar with but it made his spark pulse throb a bit. “I don’t think words are enough to tell you how grateful I am that you humored and took care of me,” he said softly. Galvatron hoped it was quiet enough that Cyclonus couldn’t hear. “So I… want to try a human custom.”

The older mech frowned at him with confusion. “Well… Get on with it,” he permitted.

Galvatron watched as Hot Rod’s optics continued to stare intently into his own, then dropped to eye the Decepticon’s faceplate carefully as if strategizing his next move. There was a bit of hesitation, and then… the Autobot leaned forward and planted his lips against Galvatron’s cheek. The tyrant froze.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was it worth it to wait a year for a kiss to happen? I hope so. Trust me, there will be more to it soon. Buuuut we've gotta get Gally out of naughty jail first. Time for Hot Rod to get some things sorted out.
> 
> Thanks so much for reading! Please do leave comments. I love to read your thoughts and opinions. <3


	17. Confessions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Hot Rod tries to convince others to not stand in the way of his love.

Hot Rod could feel his spark pulsing a mile a minute as the two of them were frozen in that position for what felt like ages. Come on, Hot Rod! Get it together! Break it, you’re making it awkward! The young mech wasn’t sure how long he’d lingered, but he finally managed to get his body to cooperate and he stiffly pulled back to sit on his heels. He felt his body grow hot and his cooling systems kick on rather loudly, easy to hear despite the background noise. He could have sworn he heard some mocking cooing coming from a Decepticon seated in a cell at the opposite side of Galvatron’s.

If Galvatron heard it too, he wasn’t acknowledging it. He was too busy staring at Hot Rod with an expression that said he was so shocked he wasn’t sure what position to leave his face in. It was shifting frequently. Surprise, appall, confusion, a scowl, a sneer. He finally stopped it on an accusing, almost angry squint. “Is this one of your jokes?” He asked with a dangerously quiet growl.

The Autobot gaped at him. “Wh—? N-No! I told you I was serious!”

“You are seriously telling me that humans just throw around kisses as votes of thanks?”

“They don’t just throw them around. They save it for a special occasion. For things they consider life-changing or very, very important.”

“Are you still infected?”

“Gal—”

“Your medibots need to do another scan, and this time I want to _see—_ ”

“Gally, shut up!” Hot Rod snapped, leaning forward to press himself against the warlord firmly and startling him. “I’m not sick anymore! I’ve actually never thought more clearly in my whole life! I—!” He lost steam at the unadulterated look of astonishment he was receiving. He couldn’t look him in the optics anymore, so he shifted his gaze down to the Decepticon’s chestplating. “I haven’t given _that_ sort of thank you to _anyone_ before…” He murmured. “Something’s changed in me… And it’s all your fault, slag you…”

“My— _My_ fault?!” Galvatron snarled, grabbing Hot Rod tightly by the shoulders and giving him a small shake. “What did _you_ do to _me_?!”

It was the Autobot’s turn to look up at him in shock. “What??”

“If anyone’s changed, it’s _me_! I tried thinking about putting you through a Death Flight but I couldn’t do so without some part of me feeling— feeling…” Galvatron paused and gritted his denta as he struggled to find words.

“Guilty…?” Hot Rod suggested hopefully.

There was hesitation. “P…Protective… My arms tightened reflexively…” He growled and let go of Hot Rod’s shoulders to lean back and fold his arms. “I can’t believe I don’t want to kill you anymore…” He grumbled. “I ask again, what did you do?”

“Uh… I don’t… thhhhink I did anything on purpose,” Hot Rod said slowly. “I didn’t tamper with your mind. I don’t have that kind of knowledge. I only know what Ratchet taught me about fixing mechs. I’ve noticed you’re not as spastic and easy to set off as you were before. Think those oases helped your processor heal?”

Galvatron opened his mouth, likely to argue, but stopped himself to think then closed it again.

“You have to admit you’ve noticed you’re not as violent,” the youth pointed out.

The tyrant grunted reluctantly. “Unfortunately…”

“Oh, c’mon, Gal. This isn’t a bad thing! You can finally relax!”

“I cannot relax without knowing about your condition, now!” He spat. “I’ve had to play babysitter for so long that not knowing what’s happening or where you’re at makes me feel anxious in a way that I haven’t had to feel before! Insufferable bootleg!”

Hot Rod felt his hopes get a boost. Galvatron _worried_ about him now. He _cared_. Then maybe… there was a chance. “You… really think that way? You’re actually taking our arrangement seriously?”

“Arrangement? Oh. The friendship agreement.” The Decepticon sighed. “Yes, yes. You’ve made me put so much effort into it, it would be a waste not to. That’s why I didn’t ditch you in those catacombs.”

“My head doesn’t hurt anymore, by the way.”

“I can fix that if you keep bringing it up.”

Hot Rod laughed and beamed at him, then rested his servos against Galvatron’s chestplate and leaned forward, letting their faces stay only a few inches apart. “So,” he started, “can we… take it up a notch?”

The other fixed him with a confused scowl. “What do you mean?”

“Well, obviously, if you want to keep a close optic on me, the next move to make would be to become junxies. Want to try and aim for that?”

He was seriously taking a chance with that inquiry, but he _had_ to try. The worst Galvatron could say was “no”. And while that would absolutely hurt, at the very least they could still stay friends. …He hoped.

The ball was in Galvatron’s court. The Decepticon leader was staring at him blankly. The longer the silence continued, the more uncomfortable and uncertain Hot Rod became. “Er, Gal?” He checked.

“I’m thinking,” was the gruff reply.

“O…Okay, well—”

“Hot Rod!!”

The sharp bark startled the young mech, making him jump before he twisted to see who behind him had shouted. It was Kup and he was storming over to the cell. “Oh boy…” Hot Rod whispered with a slight whine before getting up to walk over to the cell gate and raising his voice, giving the old mech a warm yet tense grin. “Heyyy Kup! You’re looking well!”

“What in the Matrix do you think you’re _doing_?!” The old soldier bellowed, punching in the cell gate code with an angry digit.

Hot Rod shrugged innocently. “I’m only visiting. Is that so wrong?” As soon as the gate was down, Kup reached in and grasped his arm tightly to yank him out. “Ow ow ow! Hey, watch it, Kup! You’ll scrape up my finish!” Not that there was much left of it after his and Galvatron’s adventure. The both of them looked scuffed up and their paint jobs were faded.

As expected, though, this only served to anger Kup further. His lips tightened around the end of a mock cigar that was clenched between his denta. As soon as the gate to Galvatron’s cell was back up, he dragged Hot Rod out of the prison wing. The young mech threw one last look back at Galvatron before he was out of sight, then redirected his attention to his friend.

“Kup, you’re tearing my arm off.”

“Good! As soon as it’s disconnected, I’m going to smack you over the head with it!” He only stopped once they’d reached an empty room, at which point he shoved Hot Rod in and shut the door behind them.

The young Autobot stumbled forward, but quickly regained his footing and turned on his heel to glare at Kup. “What is your _problem_ , old timer?!”

“What makes you think fraternizing with the enemy is even _remotely_ acceptable?!” Kup snarled, pulling the mock cigar out of his mouth to point it at him furiously. “That bot is the whole reason this war _exists_! And you’re _flirting_ with him!”

“You don’t understand him, Kup!” Hot Rod retaliated.

“And you do?!”

“Considering everything I’ve been through the past however-long and the fact that I was his main rival as Prime, _yes_! I think I’m much more knowledgeable about him than you are!”

“I know he’s a _menace_! He was as _Megatron_ and he still is now!”

“He’s _changing_!” He deepened his glower when Kup laughed dryly with disbelief. “He is! I can see it! I can end this war!”

Kup put the cigar back in its spot between his denta. “With him behind bars, it’s already over, kid. You don’t have to pretend to be on good terms with him.”

“I’m not pretending,” Hot Rod snapped. “Hard as it is for you to come to grips with this, I actually _love_ him.”

The old soldier’s voice was full scorn. “Listen to yourself, kid. You need a therapist. You’ve been traumatized by what happened and are going through some sort of Stockholm Syndrome.”

“He wasn’t holding me _captive,_ Kup! Do you need me to say this again? Because I will!”

Kup stared at him quietly for a moment. “You’re serious…”

Hot Rod released a small huff of air. “Look, I get you only have what’s best for me and the Autobot cause in mind. _But_. I _am_ serious. I love Galvatron and I want to see him progress. You weren’t _there_ , Kup. You didn’t see him _actively_ work to keep my sorry aft alive. I got to talk with him like a _normal_ bot and learn about him. Does he still have his issues? Absolutely. I won’t deny that. But I want to watch and _be there_ as he keeps growing into someone better than he was.”

A silence fell between them for several long minutes as Kup internalized this. The old mech chewed on his cigar thoughtfully and looked into Hot Rod’s optics with an intense stare. “And… if he doesn’t return your feelings?” He eventually posed.

“Then we continue on as we were on the planet. Just friends.”

A long sigh escaped Kup’s lips as he raised a hand to wearily rub his forehead. “You know you’ll have to tell Optimus this.”

The young mech folded his arms and leaned against the nearest wall. “I know. I’m sure I’ll have to explain to _everyone_ at some point.” A sudden thought came to mind that made him breathe a laugh and grin at the old mech.

“What the slag are you laughing at?”

“Can you imagine Ultra Magnus’ face when I tell him? Seized up, optics twitching, denta clenched while his lips curl into a grimace.” Hot Rod shifted his expression to mimic the picture.

Kup tried to keep a straight face. He shook his head and took a breath to chastise him, then caved and huffed a small laugh. “You’ve got a lot of gall, Hot Rod. So, what are you going to do, then? He’s serving his time in prison while he and his followers wait for their trials.”

The youth shrugged and looked to the side with a tilt of his head. “Ohh, I dunno. Wing it, probably. I’ll think of something.”

“I won’t help you with this,” Kup grunted, “but I won’t stop you, either. Doubt you’ll even let me, anyway. Just know I think this is a bad idea.”

Hot Rod shot him a snarky smirk. “ _Thanks_ , Kup. You’re a real pal.”

The old soldier rolled his optics and stepped out of the way of the door. “Get outta here. I don’t wanna look atcha.”

“You know, I can’t believe you didn’t tell me that this reminds you of a time when something like it happened,” the sports car mused. “No big story to ramble about?”

Kup scowled at him. “If you don’t _scram_ , I’ll tell you about _three_ times!”

“You don’t _actually—_ ”

“I remember this one time—”

“Scramming!” Hot Rod yelped as he bustled out, but threw Kup one last grin as he passed. Now… where to start?

Well… Optimus Prime.

~~~~~~~

“No you don’t, Hot Rod.”

This was going about as well as Hot Rod had not expected. He knew that Optimus would be opposed to the idea, but he’d hoped he could convince him as quickly as he did Kup. Sadly, this was not the case.

Optimus had met with Hot Rod at the commander’s office upon the youth’s request, and he’d sat with him quietly as his once-successor recounted all the events that happened on Polterrus. After a brief exchange of small meaningless statements, Hot Rod broke it with, “I think I love him.” To which Prime had responded with _that_.

The young Autobot met Optimus’ firm gaze with a perturbed look. “Excuse me? What do you mean, ‘No you don’t’?” He said with a sharp scoff.

“You only _think_ you love him because of what you’ve gone through,” Optimus explained cooly. “Hot Rod, trust me. I’ve had my fair share of those. Short crushes that amounted to nothing in the end. Give it time. Your feelings will wear off.”

The sports car scowled. “No, Optimus! Primus, I just told this to Kup! This isn’t Stockholm Syndrome or anything like your stupid past crushes! I know how I feel and I’m _serious_!”

“So am I. You’ve only been with him for two weeks.”

“Just because you and Elita-One took forever—!”

Prime pointed a stern digit at him and fixed him with a warning glare. “I would be careful how you drag Elita into this.”

Hot Rod stood up with a growl and slammed his servos on the desk between them. “ _Why_ are you treating me like some _kid_?! I’m a grown aft adult!”

“This isn’t a question about _age_ , Hot Rod. It’s a matter of _wise_ decision-making. Galvatron is a warmonger. What if you commit to this and find out it was a huge mistake? What if he hurts you?”

The young mech snorted with contempt. “It’s too late for that! What’s he gonna do that he hasn’t done already?!”

Optimus Prime returned the youth’s scowl. “You think you know him completely? What he’s capable of? You weren’t around for the entirety that he was Megatron, Hot Rod. Ask any of us who were. Most of us would be willing to share with you the horrors and destruction he’s wrought all in the name of, ‘Peace through tyranny’.”

Hot Rod’s upper lip curled into a snarl. “I can _help him_!” He shouted insistently. “Optimus, I can help him _change_ for the better! And better still, this can bring us one step closer to _unifying_ our _race_! I’m _tired_ of fighting with the Decepticons every fragging day! Aren’t you?!”

“Of course I am!” Optimus shouted back, standing and leaning forward a bit against his desk. “I just don’t want to see anyone getting hurt because of this! Least of all you!”

“That’s rich coming from the bot that _cursed_ me with that stupid historical glow orb!” Hot Rod spat.

“Hot Rod!” Prime snapped. “The Matrix of Leadership is—!”

The red and orange bot cut him off with a dismissive wave of his servo. “I know, I know, Ultra Magnus already gave me that lecture!” He began to pace, throwing Optimus a dirty glare every other turn. “Have _any_ of you ever stopped to think how that thing affected me, though?! The _legacy_ you left me to fill?!”

The words were just tumbling out of Hot Rod’s mouth now. He hadn’t meant for this to turn into a spiel about the Matrix, but somehow it happened. And he couldn’t stop it. Years of pent up emotions were now exploding forth from him and he couldn’t stop even though he wanted to.

Optimus had paused, obviously caught off guard. “I—”

“I doubt anybody has! As soon as you came back, it was life as usual for everyone! Do you have any idea what I had to deal with as Prime while you were gone?!”

“I’ve heard stories, but—”

“Quintessons, Decepticons, Unicron, _everyone_ pulling at me from all sides, people calling us terrors for saving them from the Decepticons and their schemes, rebuilding a near _dead_ planet! The criticisms, the rumors! As far as most everyone is concerned, I’m the second worst Prime only to Zeta!” A lump formed in Hot Rod’s throat, a warning sign that there would be liquid welling to his optics soon.

Optimus moved out from behind his desk, his anger melting to slight sympathy. “Hot Rod, that’s not true,” he said gently.

“Liar! I’ve heard them! I couldn’t get half our forces to do a single thing I told them without Kup or Ultra Magnus there because they didn’t want to follow the ‘idiot kid that got the _true_ Prime killed’!”

And there were the tears. Despite his vision beginning to blur from the rising coolant, he caught Optimus wincing.

“Galvatron doesn’t care,” Hot Rod croaked, trying to keep his composure in front of his leader. “Everyone else wanted me to be just like you… but Galvatron doesn’t care. He’s taking me as I am. Stupid and obnoxious and stubborn. Yeah, we hack each other off. We’re not perfect. Yeah, he’s still violent. But I really believe I can make this work. If…” He trailed off.

_**I’m thinking.** _

****The young bot grimaced and turned his back to Optimus. “Forget it… I don’t need your blessing… He probably doesn’t think of me like that, anyway…”

He heard Prime start to approach him, extending an arm. The commander stopped when the young mech made a bee-line for the door. “Wait, Hot Rod,” he requested, but as soon as the door was open, the red and orange bot bolted out. “Hot Rod!”

It took an enormous amount of willpower to hold back the coolant that was threatening to spill. He was so focused on that alone that he had no idea where his legs were carrying him, nor did he notice the other bot in the hall until he’d almost bumped into them.

“Hot Rod?” Elita-One exclaimed. “Is something the matter?”

None of her business. He just kept going.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You all get a small cheek smooch, but before I give you more, a few things need to be addressed. This is a big step, after all.
> 
> Prime really isn't trying to be mean, he's just trying to think realistically. Ah, I think a good comparison would be King Posidon in The Little Mermaid. *snort* Did I accidentally make Hot Rod a Disney Princess??
> 
> Whoopsie!
> 
> Thanks much for reading! Please do leave comments and opinions. I love to read them.


	18. Happy Anniversary!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Artwork for you all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for sticking around to read this slow burn as I gradually keep adding to it! The positive comments and conversations I’ve received and had with you really gives me the motivation needed to continue working on this and see it through to the end! ^u^
> 
> I don’t have an actual chapter for you guys yet, but I figured I should still give you all something. Since I’m an artist as well, have a drawing and the stages I took to get to the finished product. Hope you guys enjoy and thanks again for all the feedback! <3


	19. Moving Forward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Hot Rod gets a few things straightened out

Optimus stared at his office door as it slid shut, slowly letting his arm drop back to his side. After a minute, he shuffled back to sit in his desk chair, leaned forward to rest his forehead on the desk surface in front of him, then heaved a heavy sigh. He didn’t bother looking up when his office door slid open again.

“Uh oh,” came Elita’s voice. “Ruined a child’s dreams, did we?”

Prime gave her a groan in response. He heard her breathe a laugh and stride over to him, then felt the weight of her leaning on his back to give him a hug.

“It’s not like I was trying to be the bad guy here,” he muttered. “I just didn’t want him to do something rash.”

“Rash is in Hot Rod’s name, sweets,” Elita reminded, rubbing his upper arms. “What happened?”

“He said he was in love with Galvatron and I tried to convince him he wasn’t and to think logically.”

His conjunx tutted at him. “Optimus. You should know how powerful a thing like love is. Someone like Hot Rod is bound to cling to it if they’ve never felt it before. It’s euphoric. Comforting. And you just tried to snatch that from him.”

“Yes, I know… I’m horrible…” Prime said miserably. “And to top it off, he blames _me_ for his time spent as Prime. Or, at the very least, partially.”

“I don’t think he truly blames you. He may have just been hurting in the moment and used that as an excuse to lash out at you.”

Optimus rumbled lowly in acknowledgement.

“I can understand the concern, though, given the past. Does Galvatron feel the same? Do you know?”

“I have an inkling, but he’s still difficult to size up,” he sighed, shifting his head so the side of it was resting on the desk, now enabling him to look at Elita-One. Or rather, her legs and whatever he could make out of her torso, seeing as she was still leaning on him. “He was expressing concern for Hot Rod. In his own gruff way. He’s been behaving oddly in general. He’s… tamer. Less like the wild animal he was before he and Hot Rod disappeared. …Like he’s remembering who he was.”

“Before Unicron?” Elita asked, getting off him to make optic contact. “He’s acting like Megatron again?”

“It seems to me.” Optimus straightened up and turned his chair to face her. “There’s nothing about this situation that makes me feel comfortable. If he’s reverting back to who he was as Megatron, then that could mean serious trouble for the future of this war and planet. What if he messes with Hot Rod’s head? Manipulates him? After all Hot Rod’s put up with, I don’t want to see him finally break.”

Elita-One fixed him with an empathetic smile. “My thoughtful gentlespark.”

“I don’t know what to do, Elita…”

The fembot lowered herself onto his lap and leaned against him. “Perhaps some consultation with the Matrix of Leadership is needed?” She suggested, gently tapping his mask with a fingertip.

He responded to the unspoken request by parting his mask for her. “Perhaps. I must be going about this all wrong.”

His conjunx hummed and moved in to plant a small kiss to his lips. He shut his optics briefly and leaned forward a little into it before she pulled her head back to say, “Even the wisest leaders can be wrong some times. If this isn’t meant to be, Hot Rod will always find someone else. Everything will work out, you’ll see.”

Optimus smiled and locked optics with her. “Your optimism is a warm sunbeam on a cold winter day, my dear.”

Elita beamed at him with just as much warmth. “You romantic. Do you need me to talk with Hot Rod for you?”

“I think he needs some time to himself,” Prime said. “Or with Daniel. Maybe Daniel will be able to get somewhere with him.”

His conjunx nodded in agreement. “I’ll ask Carly if I can borrow him.” She slid off Optimus’ lap and got to her feet, but before she could move away, he gently took hold of her hand and brought the back of it up to his lips.

“How did I go so long without you by my side?” He murmured.

Elita-One gave his hand a squeeze. “You sell yourself short, love. I’ve heard more praise than complaints from the men you led on Earth. I’ll see you at home.”

“I hope time flies so it’ll be sooner rather than later,” he replied, watching her leave his office, feeling much better than before she came in. Hopefully Daniel would be able to do the same for Hot Rod. Optimus turned his attention to a pile of datapads on his desk and felt his mood sink again. Couldn’t Ultra Magnus attend to these? Vector Sigma… With a sigh, he shut his mask and grabbed one to begin pouring through the contents.

~~~~~~~

Hot Rod paced furiously in a small-ish hidden room he and Daniel had discovered years ago. They’d dubbed it their safe room and got it all furnished for them to officially hang out in. A few cushy seats, some hanging lights, a few of the boy’s favorite books, several human goodie stashes for Daniel and some energon goodies for Hot Rod, and a few mindless toys for them to play with. They had many a good time spent in here, hiding from the world.

That wasn’t to say it was all hunky dory. They’d also come—as Hot Rod had just done—to blow off steam or get alone time whenever they were angry or miserable. Hot Rod had come to this room as frequently as he could manage while he was Prime.

He sniffled and palmed the tears leaking down his faceplate, making fuming noises in an attempt to express himself without being super loud. He was being loud enough, though, that he didn’t hear Daniel walk in until the little boy said his name gently. The mech paused and turned to him. “D…Danno, this is not the time,” he rasped.

Daniel didn’t take it personally. Instead, he moved to have a seat in his bean bag and gazed up at his friend. “It’s okay, Hot Rod. I remember what you told me. I’ll wait.” He watched as Hot Rod resumed his pacing. “Are you okay?”

“No, I’m _hacked off_!” He ranted through his tears, scowling ahead of him at the floor. “Everyone’s trying to tell me how to feel, and I just want them to _shut up_ for once and stop treating me like I’m half-clocked!” The mech stomped his foot on the ground and stopped his pacing again, raising his clenched fists and snarling. “I’m not _stupid_ , I know what I’m doing! Why does the universe _insist_ on making me miserable?! What did I ever do to deserve all this?! I just want what other people are allowed to have! Is that too much to ask?!”

“I don’t think so,” the little boy replied softly. “What do you want?”

“I want to relax with a bot who understands and accepts me for _me_! I don’t need someone flaky who’s only interested in my looks or who I know or— or…” The red and orange bot deflated a bit and clenched his denta as he hung his head. “I want my life to be _mine_ and frag anyone who wants to tell me otherwise.”

“Isn’t it already?” Daniel asked. “When have you ever followed all those stupid rules?”

Hot Rod turned to face him with a confuddled look. “Well… When I was Prime, I had to.”

Daniel pointed up at him. “But you’re _not_ Rodimus Prime anymore. You’re _Hot Rod_. And the Hot Rod I know shrugs off what others say and does what he thinks is right anyway.”

The mech stared down at him with dawning inspiration as the little boy’s words sank in. That… was true. He did do that, didn’t he? Quite often.

“What don’t people want you doing?”

The sports car moved to have a seat in his dedicated lounging chair. “They don’t want me to be in love with Galvatron.”

Daniel tipped his head to the side and donned a shocked but intrigued expression. “You like him like that? I thought you were just friends. How did that happen?”

“Well,” Hot Rod sighed, “the short story is he saved my can more than once and I got to know him a little better. And the fact that he’s blunt is really appealing. When most people talk to me, they sugar coat things. You know? To spare my feelings. I hate that. It’s what I like about Springer and Kup, actually. They say it as it is. Galvatron does the same. If he thinks I’m being dumb, he tells me. I mean, sure.” He shrugged and leaned back in his seat. “He slings a whole slew of insults along with the fact. But who cares? I sure don’t. At least I know how he feels. Mostly. I think he lies to himself about some things, which makes him a bit hard to read sometimes.” He stared quietly down at his lap for a moment before he made optic-contact again with his friend. “There were these lakes. Real pretty. Made the world around them seem like a bad dream. And man, I wished I could fish there, but most of the creatures that lived there were _way_ smarter than Earth’s fish.”

He smiled when Daniel giggled, then continued. “They were magical. In the literal sense, I’m pretty sure. We got in these fights with animals that really tore into us. And when we relaxed in these lakes, they healed up our plating like nothing ever happened. Couldn’t completely fix motherboards, but that’s whatever. And the water just… had this really pleasant feeling. It made us happy to just rest in it. I think it healed the damage done to his processor by those plasma baths. He can think more clearly now. He’s not as spastic or needlessly violent. He actually jokes with me once in a while. His big stupid face looks great with a smile, too.”

Daniel leaned back in his own seat. “It sounds like you really do like him a lot. I can’t believe so much happened in just two weeks. Does he like you, too?”

Hot Rod lost his smile to release a sigh. “I don’t know. I really don’t. I hope he does, but I can’t tell. I asked him to be my conjunx and all he told me was that he’d think about it. And he had this big ol’ scowl on his face. I have to go back for his answer. Maybe tomorrow morning. That should be enough time, right?”

“I think so,” the boy stated. “But what about his trial? You don’t plan on breaking him out of jail, do you?”

The mech shook his head and shrugged. “No, there’s no point in doing that. That would just make the situation worse. I’m going to see if I can get his sentence to community service. I think I can argue a good case for that.” Hot Rod paused to look at the little boy with a soft, warm smile. After some silence between them, he spoke up again. “Thanks, Danno.”

Daniel returned his smile. “Anything for my best friend.” The expression that crossed his face a moment after showed he clearly had more he wanted to say. When Hot Rod raised an optic ridge at him, he caved. “So will you tell me about your adventures now?”

The mech burst into laughter. “Alright, you win,” he conceded, causing the boy to cheer loudly. He leaned forward in his seat and with a grin began recounting his adventures with Galvatron. Hot Rod would need to speak with Optimus again and even several others, but for right now, he was going to enjoy spending time with his buddy.

They stayed in their hideout until Hot Rod sent Daniel off for dinner. If he’d kept the little boy past that point, Carly would have hunted him down and scrapped his hide. By this point, he was feeling calm enough that he actually debated on talking with Optimus again sooner rather than later. It took him a few minutes to finally decide no. Not Optimus. Ultra Magnus. The thought of Optimus still left a sore spot at the moment, so the next best person to get information from was Magnus.

Hot Rod left the hideout and began making his way to Magnus’ office. Along the way, he passed by many bots, most of whom greeted him with a smile and “welcome back”. Strange… Were there always so many people who actually cared about him and his wellbeing? It sure hadn’t felt like it while he was Prime. But the greetings just kept coming. A few bots even tried to stop him for conversation. Hot Rod indulged them for brief periods before insisting he had somewhere to be. Optimus’ denial rang in his mind as he ended a conversation with Jazz and watched the white Porsche stroll away.

_‘As far as most everyone is concerned, I’m the second worst Prime only to Zeta!’_

**‘Hot Rod, that’s not true.’**

Was Hot Rod remembering things all wrong? Was he so caught up in his stress that he only imagined others hated him? The sports car would have gone into deeper thought about this new possible revelation, but a voice from behind rang loud and proud over his thoughts.

“Well, well, if it isn’t everyone’s favorite drama queen back from from his vacation.”

Hot Rod could recognize that obnoxious voice anywhere. He turned to see Springer striding in his direction and promptly gave the triple changer a smirk. “If it isn’t everyone’s favorite aftport, gracing me with his snide,” he shot back.

“You’re slowly becoming the topic of the day, and it’s rotting my processor,” Springer huffed, stopping just in front of him. “Don’t you have anything better to do than to get people talking?”

“Yes, actually. I’ve got to go see Ultra Magnus.”

The green mech placed a servo on his hip. “Going to try and throw all your new gossip at him about what you’ve learned from Galvatron?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Hot Rod grinned.

Springer simply rolled his optics before fixing Hot Rod with a straightforward look. “I already got the juice from Kup about how you feel about Galvatron. And Ultra Magnus and Arcee have it, too.”

“Primus!” The sports car exclaimed in exasperation. “I thought Kup was the _one_ bot I could trust _not_ to gossip like this!”

“Look, he didn’t give us all the details. Just said you thought you had feelings for Galvatron.”

“And I do! What of it?”

“You’re an idiot.”

“Tell me something I _don’t_ know.”

Springer folded his arms and tilted his head, his expression showing a neutrality his harsh words didn’t match. “In all seriousness, just what are you trying to do here?”

“I’m trying to end the war,” Hot Rod said plainly. “For real this time. And while I’m doing it, I’m looking for someone to have fun with. You guys are all well and good, but something feels missing. I want what you and Arcee have.”

“And you think you can find that with Galvatron? Not some nice Autobot or NAIL hanging around Cybertron?”

“Oh, don’t you start.”

“It’s not in my job description to play the role of your sire. I only wanted to make sure you remembered where your loyalties lie.”

Hot Rod eased up on the scowl he hadn’t realized he’d gained. “Thanks.”

Springer stared at him quietly for a moment before smirking smugly. “You and Galvatron. Yeah, I can kinda see it. You looking all pretty and standing off to the side while Galvatron does the real work. Maybe he’ll whip that spoiled princess attitude out of you.”

The red mech squinted and raised a fist. “I’ll whip that third mode out of you my-fragging-self if you’re not careful, Springer.”

The triple changer paid him no heed. In fact, this empty threat only seemed to encourage him. “Woo, you kiss your new conjunx with that mouth? You’ve gotta work on that so he isn’t embarrassed to be seen in public with you.”

“You know what? There are _so many_ more important bots I could be talking with right now. It’s been aggravating, Springer.” On that note, Hot Rod stalked off in the direction of Ultra Magnus’ office.

“Remember to go get a polish so you look pretty for your mech!” Springer called after him. “You look like you just lost of fight with a tar pit holding nails and screws!”

The red mech didn’t stop to give the triple changer more time of day. Once out of sight, he chanced looking himself over. Vector Sigma, he really did look awful… He’d been walking around like this all day? As soon as morning came, he’d have to get that fixed. A nice buffing and paint fix ought to do him some good. But in the meantime, Magnus. No more distractions. Magnus.

Hot Rod didn’t stop for anyone else. He just kept walking until he reached Ultra Magnus’ door, then promptly knocked on its surface firmly. Magnus’ voice called through, granting him entrance, to which the sports car wasted no time acting upon. Once in, he shut the door behind him and went to stand in front of Ultra Magnus’ desk. “Thought you’d still be here.”

“Hot Rod,” Magnus greeted, with a hint of surprise in his tone. “A pleasure to see you up and about finally.”

“Yeah,” the youth agreed impatiently, “can we cut to the chase? I need information and to bounce some ideas back and forth with you.”

Ultra Magnus blinked, his surprise now showing on his facial features. Regardless, he accepted with a soft, “Of course.”

“I was told you already know about my thoughts on Galvatron, so I need you to skip over the lecture Prime already gave me, and help me figure out how to make this work. I know you’re opposed to it, but humor me. When’s the trial for the Decepticons? You’re gonna try them as a whole, right?”

“Erm, we were actually going to do it on an individual basis.”

“That would take _so much time_ , though. We’ve got so many Decepticons locked up in there.”

Ultra Magnus set down the datapad in his servo and leaned forward to rest his arms on his desk, his servos clasping together. “Look, Hot Rod, I understand what you mean, but each Decepticon has their own set of warcrimes they need to pay for. We can’t just simply _lump_ them all together. Why are you interested in a mass trial rather than just Galvatron’s?”

“Because if we’re going to end this war, we need to give the Decepticons incentive to work with us,” the youth explained. “Almost _none_ of the Decepticons have any respect for Galvatron, so if we give Galvatron special treatment, it’s only going to hack them off more than they already are. And as Prime likes to constantly remind us, ‘freedom is the right of all sentient beings’. Why only give Galvatron a chance to change and not the others?”

“So what do you propose, then?” Magnus asked.

“I propose we try them as a whole unit and assign them the work of fixing what they’ve broken.”

Magnus half-grimaced with confusion. “You want to set _every_ Decepticon on community service?”

Hot Rod raised his arms above his head for a moment. “Think about it! Why did they start this war in the first place? Because the system back then was flawed and they wanted to make a better Cybertron. And that was before Megatron went and got power hungry. Well? Now we have a better system. They still want to make a better Cybertron. So _let them_. Put a virtual leash around them and make them help out with rebuilding Cybertron. Primus knows there’s still most of the planet that needs the attention and labor.”

Ultra Magnus was silent for a minute as he contemplated Hot Rod’s words. He hesitated before opening his mouth to admit, “What you say bares some truth… _but_ we also need to take those who are truly corrupt into consideration.”

“Then… make them all see a therapist before trying them,” Hot Rod insisted. “Let the shrinks test them to see if they’re sane enough or even genuine enough to do community service.”

Magnus sighed and raised a servo to rub his forehead. “Bots can _lie_ , Hot Rod. Rather convincingly, I might add.” He saw Hot Rod open his mouth again to yelp with indignance and motioned for him to hold it. “I understand, Hot Rod. Trust me, I do. And I’ll talk with Prime and Perceptor about your idea. Just don’t expect a miracle.”

The young mech stood quietly for a second before giving Magnus a curt nod. “Guess that’s all I can ask for.”

“Was there anything else?”

“No. Thanks, Magnus.” Hot Rod eased up and gave him a small smile. “Let’s grab a drink some time when you’re less busy.”

Ultra Magnus returned the smile. “I’d like that. Good evening, Hot Rod.”

“See you, Magnus.” Hot Rod about-faced and strode for the door, leaving the soldier to his work. Today had been an emotional rollercoaster and had involved a lot of planning and explaining. What Hot Rod craved most at the moment was his nice berth. Sleep sounded lovely right about now.

The path he took was one he’d taken many times over to reach his room, and yet it felt so foreign now. He stopped at his bedroom door and looked it over before slowly cracking it open and stepping into the room. Everything was still in its place since he’d left. Small piles of mess left around his room, on the floor around the perimeter and on his desk. His berth lay with the headslab against one of the walls, blankets draped over it making the recharge station look more inviting than the average unit.

Hot Rod released a deep breath and went to lay down. The feeling of finally getting a regular recharge felt great. A good old solid charge of electricity. And yet… there was something off. The young mech didn’t need to do much spark-searching to know the reason why this recharge felt wrong. For the first time in two weeks, he was recharging without company. There was no way he could power down tonight. Did he even need this recharge?

He checked his charge level. Thirteen percent. Hot Rod heaved a half-groan, half-sigh. He was stuck for the night. Glumly, the sports car reached over for the TV remote on the stand next to his berth and flicked on the flat screen on the opposite wall. If he was going to be stuck awake all night, he sure as slag wasn’t going to do it in silence. The noise of the TV chased away the droning buzz of the recharge slab and provided mindless noise in the otherwise silent room, however it did little to pull the young mech’s mind away from the company he craved.

The night crawled on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took a while to figure out how to write. There's just quite a bit that needed to be addressed and planned before we can get back to our regularly scheduled fluff. After all, I plan on giving G1 an ending of some sort. The war can't go on forever. I have also found I like writing the dynamic between characters. Like Hot Rod and Springer. That little bit was fun.
> 
> For those of you who like Elita-One and Optimus fluff, enjoy!
> 
> Thanks so much for reading! Please do leave thoughts and comments, I love reading them. :)


	20. Update 2

I'm still alive, I swear!

Things picked up at work and I've been struggling to figure out where to take this. Because--and I'll admit--I wasn't initially planning on making the fic go on this long. But one thing led to another and I really got into it. I have ideas and I know where I want to take it, but it's getting past the small build up that's stumping me. But! There is more! And the long awaited Roddy/Gally fluff will be amazing. But first Gally needs to learn and heal. And Roddy needs to grow up a bit.

In the meantime, I have still been writing. It's just been for other things. >_>

I'm experimenting with ship pairings and showcasing headcanons in "[Decepticon Snippets](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26882311/chapters/65592409)" and for those who like Soundwave/Thundercracker, there is "[The Sound of Gentle Thunder](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28898985)".

Bless you all for your patience and I wish you pleasant days!

I'm hoping to get over this block soon.

**Author's Note:**

> This work is a combination of me and my boyfriend's knowledge of the continuities plus research and some creativity. Since Gen 1 has very little build to it and its characters, I felt like taking the time to build up the world and provide some headcanons. Feel free to leave some helpful critiques, not criticisms.


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